Grown Up an Oh! My Goddess fanfic
by Hawkinsmith
Summary: It's been three years since Skuld and Sentaro met, and both of them have really grown. But Sentaro has been coming over less. Since freshman year is about to start, Skuld decides to attend high school with Sentaro to get closer. eventual lemon.
1. Chapter 1

When Skuld asked to talk to Keiichi and her two sisters, they weren't expecting anything like this particular conversation.

I would like to attend a human high school." She said confidently, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She sat patiently and waited for their response. The room was unnaturally quiet as all three processed that rather blunt statement. Skuld's impatience finally got the better of her. "Well? What do you guys think?"

"Are you frickin' nuts?" Urd asked bluntly. "What _possible_ use is there for you to attend a human high school? Were 200 years of primary school in heaven just not enough for you? Even if you aren't aware of some of the specifics of local history, for pretty much everything else _in the multi-verse_ you've probably covered it already. Why did this even cross your mind?"

Skuld shot Urd an angry glance, and Belldandy began to try to pacify the both of them. "Now, Urd, I am sure Skuld has a good reason she wishes to attend a human high school. And I am sure that if she wants to, she will tell us. But isn't it a small thing to grant her wish for the time being?" Even as she said this, she shot Skuld a short, but worried, look.

Keiichi sipped his tea and then set it down. "Money isn't a problem at the moment," he said thinking simultaneously _for once…_ "And, I don't see any real problem with this. I think Skuld will tell us her reason for this when she feels comfortable. Personally, I don't mind, as it gets her out of the house for most of the day. That means that only Urd can get in trouble while we are at work with Chihiro-san, Belldandy."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" Urd yelled, while Skuld smirked. Keiichi sighed and said, "Well since there isn't really a good reason for Skuld to not attend high school, I say we just let her do it."

"Alright. But what did you mean about the reference to money, Keiichi-san?" Belldandy asked innocently, cocking her head slightly to the right.

"Yeah, isn't school free down here on earth?" Urd followed up Belldandy's query with another question.

"I also am a bit confused about that." Skuld added, her forehead furrowed in confusion.

Keiichi sighed. "On earth, even if you attend a public school which is paid for by taxes, you often need to spend money on other things needed for school, like school swimsuits, textbooks, notebooks, pencils and pens, and other things of that nature. Private schools charge for tuition and uniforms, as well as all the stuff I mentioned before."

Keiichi remembered something and asked Skuld, "Which school were you thinking of attending?" The reply was immediate and without hesitation,

"Shichijou Gakuen."

Skuld ignored the raised eyebrows that Urd and Keiichi were giving her, and smiled happily. Keiichi broke in before she got too carried away. "But if we are going to do this, I would like you to follow certain rules." Skuld's smile deflated a little, but didn't go away.

"Okay. What kind of rules are we talking about?" she asked. Keiichi cleared his throat and said, "Rule one. Don't use your goddess powers in front of classmates or teachers. Or anyone else, to tell the truth. Rule two. No machines or similar inventions in school."

"WHAT? Why?" Skuld whined. Keiichi frowned.

"You have to blend in. If you show up everyday on a robot-motorcycle that you built yourself, people might start asking why you even need to _attend_ high school. Most 16-year-old teenagers can't do that. Your other inventions are just as big of a tip-off. To protect you from people who might want your powers and abilities for themselves, I would like you to follow this rule."

Skuld pouted. "Okay." Keiichi looked at her steadily and then continued.

"Rule Three. You have to get good grades. This _should_ be relatively easy for you, considering your background, so I figured it would be fair to ask you to have a grade above a B in _every_ subject. Just to make sure you are paying at least a _little_ attention." Skuld flipped her hair over her shoulder again.

"Okay. No problem." she said flippantly.

Keiichi's frown deepened a bit, and his tone was a bit short as he continued. "Fine. Rule four. If you intend to attend high school, it will be for the _whole_ period of high school. You will be attending all three years, and you will graduate. This is non-negotiable."

Urd exclaimed "What!" almost simultaneously as Skuld agreed. Urd sputtered a bit, "But Skuld is a goddess. It would be a waste of her time to have to attend all three years of schooling that she doesn't need."

Keiichi pinned her with an irritated glare. "This is so she thinks about this seriously." He sipped some tea, "If this is just some whim, Skuld has to understand that for most people, decisions like this have consequences." He paused and then continued, "Like getting the paperwork here for her to be able to do this. Setting this up wil not be as easy as allowing you two to attend Nekomi Tech. High schools pay attention to things like passports, school records, and places of permanent residence. If she wants to attend, we have to get all of this paperwork together, and make it believable that she wants to attend a Japanese high school, especially since you all don't look native-born. Skuld is going to have to attend all three years of high school, and that is just part of the deal. The school is going to know that she lives here, and who her guardians are, which means that a one-year exchange student gig isn't going to work as well."

Urd blinked and then said, "Well that was a lot of talk I only half-understood. How did you manage to think of all this in such a short time?"

Keiichi smiled softly. "I had a feeling that this might eventually come up." He turned to Skuld. "I know that this might seem obvious, but if anyone figures out that you are a goddess, it could mean trouble. So please do your best to keep it to yourself. It isn't a rule, but I am counting on your common sense to guide you in this direction."

"Okay." Skuld said with a sigh. "Is that it?" she asked.

Keiichi looked at her cautiously. "Yes. That is it."

Skuld smiled brightly again."Oh good. So, Keiichi, if I am right, that means I have to go shopping to buy everything for school, right?" she asked perkily.

"Right."

Skuld turned to Belldandy, "Sister, would you like to go shopping with me?"

A smile broke out on her face as Belldandy nodded her quiet yes, and Skuld skipped out of the room.

Skuld sat in her room and looked at the pile of new things that the school had required her to buy for the upcoming school year, glowing happily. She had been able to spend time with Belldandy, just the two of them, and that in and of itself had been worth the trouble to go to human school. Even though Keiichi had secretly tailed them to make sure they bought all the right stuff.

"But I cannot forget the real reason I want to go to high school." She muttered to herself, "Focus, Skuld. Let's start putting this all together." She looked down at the checklist Keiichi had given her, to help her figure out what to do with all the things she had bought. Textbooks, notebooks, pens and pencils, gym uniform, and student handbook in her school bag, check. Her new school swimsuit, summer uniform, a coat and scarf, and an umbrella in her closet, check. Read the school rules and other pertinent information in the school handbook, check. She'd already inspected her new bike that she would be using to get to school from now on. Skuld sat back after she finished the checklist, "That should be it."

"Skuld-sama. Why are you doing this? Don't you want to stay here with me and Banpei-kun?" Sigel asked desperately, "Is it not fun to be here with us anymore?"

"It isn't anything like that at all, Sigel-chan." Skuld replied, "It's just that…" she fidgeted a bit, a blush coming to her face. "Sentaro-kun is going to high school."

Sigel looked taken aback for a second, and then recovered. "That kid who comes to visit all the time? I knew I didn't like him." Sigel growled, "Skuld-sama, what do you see in him?"

Skuld shot Sigel an angry glare. "None of your business." Sigel saw her mistake, and quickly moved to a different angle of attack.

"Speaking of which, recently we stopped seeing so much of him. If he really likes…" Sigel forgot to finish her sentence when she saw the worried look on Skuld's face. "Skuld-sama?"

Skuld looked away. "He…he talked a lot about his middle school and it sounded fun." She said softly, "That's all." She finished organizing all her new things silently.

Just when she had finished, Sigel said to her softly, "If that is what Skuld-sama thinks will make her happy, I have no objections. I will miss you though." Sigel stopped with a curious look on her face. "I guess Banpei will miss you too."

Skuld turned to her and smirked. "'Banpei'? SOOOO, how _are_ things going for you two, anyway? I was a little worried, but since you two seem to have become so close…" Sigel blushed furiously and babbled a few non-sensical sentences and stomped out of the room. Skuld sighed. She appreciated the concern, of course, but in the past three years since she had met Sentaro, she'd really grown up. Skuld just wished the others would stop treating her like a kid. (As usual).

Especially now that she'd put on some more height. You'd think that now that she was closing in on the height of everyone else (She had just recently surpassed Keiichi, now officially the shortest person in the house) that they would start to treat her differently. Whatever. The main reason she was attending school was to see more of Sentaro. He seemed to have gotten a little cold recently, claiming he had to do things for 'club activities' all the time.

Skuld hummed happily as she contemplated being able to see Sentaro every day. The opening ceremony for school would begin tomorrow. She was really looking forward to it.


	2. Chapter 2

I forgot to post this in my first chapter, but PLEASE REVIEW. I suffer from a lack of critiques. If you have a valid and fixable criticism, or a niggling sense of wrongness about any of my chapters, please review and tell me. I will do my best to listen to them and decide whether I should act upon it. Thanks.

Chapter 2

Sentaro trudged towards his new high school making relatively decent time. Unlike many others he knew, he wasn't exactly the happiest about this. Of course, this had to do with the fact he was in love. He was in love with Skuld, someone he'd met about the beginning of middles school. She was spunky, sincere, and stubborn. She was considerate, kind, and caring. She was beautiful and smart. The list went on, and Sentaro knew he could talk for days about her if he had to.

And she was ultimately out of his reach, and probably, at this very moment, going to her international school, where there were other, more interesting and fitting, boys for her to fall in love with.

And pessimistic though his thoughts about his chances may be, there were a number of reasons for him to think this. Number one on the list was that she had him totally outclassed. She went to an international school, for one. He'd never actually gotten up the courage to ask _which_ one, but when he'd talked about public school, she had said she didn't go. Obviously, then, she went to an international one. Probably a good one, considering she made robots in her _spare time._ She was way beyond him, who had only ever pulled out straight B's at the most.

The second reason was, he supposed, technically part of his first reason. She was just too beautiful. She had pale, creamy skin, which looked softer than even the clouds, if you could ever feel them. She had cute, pert lips that made her look like she was always wearing just a hint of lipstick, or possibly lip-gloss. Even though he knew she never wore make-up. She had small, dexterous, but elegant hands that begged to be watched while she worked. She had long, shining black hair that was probably soft, begged to be touched, and _definitely_ smelled good.

Reason three was that she was blindingly innocent and trusting about some things. She just _trusted_ him, and every time she did, he loved her more. And hated himself even more than that. He hated that he could never be content to just look at her, and as they had grown and she had grown ever more beautiful, it had gotten worse.

No, his mind betrayed him by thinking dark, secret, dirty fantasies and thoughts, things that probably wouldn't cross her mind in a million years. He was content just being around her, but his body demanded more. He hated that, and himself for feeling that way, more than anything in the world.

The last reason was his 'proof of overall concept'. And that was her family. Having met her two older sisters, both of which were 1. beautiful 2. kind (one in her own, not quite as obvious way) 3. obviously of foreign descent and 4. at least _one_ of them seemed to hold the same kind of overly trusting innocence. In _everyone_.

Sentaro mulled over this idly as he walked slowly up the hill towards school, kicking a rock. These thoughts were both depressing and infuriating. He wanted her all to himself, and wished to have the chance to do nothing but be with her, and his selfishness just seemed to add to the pile of reasons that he _shouldn't_ be with her. And why he hated himself. He just wasn't good enough for her to even pay attention to. Why she had taken notice of him, and even deigned to be his friend, when instead she probably should have just passed him over and moved on, baffled him a little. He put down to his good luck.

Thinking of that made him remember how they met on that deserted riverbed, that day the most blessed, luck day of his entire life. While he dwelled over his first glimpse of her, lying there on the grass, and he floated over her on his bike, seemingly carried by a gust of summer wind, he got the shock of his life.

"Hey, Sentaro-kun!" came from behind him, in a ridiculously familiar voice. Before he could react and look back to see if it really _was_ her, a girl on a bike blew past him in a gust of wind, her long black hair trailing wildly behind her. A quick wave, a flash of her face, nothing he could use to ultimately positively identify the girl as _her_, and a "See you at school, Sentaro!" and the girl sped off and around the last corner before school.

"It couldn't possible be Skuld. Could it?" he breathed. No way. Not a chance. She would go to an international high school, right? His heart beat quicker and he unconsciously sped up. As he quickly approached the school gate, he saw the bike, and when he passed through the gate and into the main walkway towards the school, he fell in love all over again, in the most cliché way.

The sakura petals floated around her like they were joyfully dancing in the wind, she turned, saw Sentaro, and smiled. His heart melted, she waved, and he knew that he had lost the hold on his soul completely. She had it now, more than she had before.

And then the realization struck him. He'd secretly dreamed that this would happen, and that this would bring him closer. But more often, _much_ more often, he woke up from nightmares of her totally disdaining him after coming to his high school, and meeting someone better, someone she deserved.

A dream or a nightmare? For Sentaro, the nightmare seemed more likely. Now he had to share the sight of seeing her with every guy here. All his fears came boiling to the surface. He'd be unmasked as an uncouth, ignorant, dirty person by her eventually. And then he wouldn't be able to see her at all. _Ever._

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. He didn't want to make her worry. So he just smiled weakly instead. He wasn't sure whether he was in heaven or hell.

Skuld was having the time of her life. Here she was, with Sentaro, and nothing could be better. She had been a bit worried about school being boring, but seeing him on the way in on her bike lifted her spirits, and the beautiful sight of the sakura lined pathway blooming delicately confirmed it. School was going to be awesome.

"Sentaro! Come on, which class are you in?" she said as she skipped over to him, as he smiled, if a bit weakly. Well, he was probably a bit in shock. "I didn't see you during the exams, so I didn't know if you were actually coming here or not. I'm glad you are!" Skuld knew she was probably beaming like a silly little girl, but she was just so _excited._ Sentaro looked off to the side a bit and said, a little crankily. "I think I am in class 1-C."

Skuld felt her smile grow wider, just a bit, and she replied "Oh! Me too! Come on, we were told to go somewhere for the opening ceremony."

"The gymnasium." Sentaro muttered. Skuld frowned. "Where would the gymnasium be?"

Sentaro looked at her, a bit surprised. "Isn't it that big building over there?" he pointed. Skuld just laughed, grabbed him by the sleeve and started dragging him that way. Sentaro stumbled a bit, and then followed. "Why aren't you in an international high school, Skuld?" he asked as they ran. Skuld was about to answer him 'what international high school', and then remembered what Keiichi had told her.

"I know you have received a more than adequate education in heaven. But human schools care about academic background, and they probably would have a hard time accepting paperwork for those schools. We've managed to get a hold of some certification from one of the local international schools. Most people will expect you to have gone. So just pretend you have. Don't lie, just use your memories from school in heaven, and act like they all happened in an international school. As long as they don't mention powers, of course."

"That place was boring. This school looks much more interesting." Skuld said instead, trying to treat the subject lightly. They reached the door of the gymnasium, and when Sentaro started to go off towards where the boys in their class were sitting, Skuld tried to follow until he turned around and hissed. "Where are you going? The girls sit over there."

_That is weird. Why don't they sit the whole class together?_ Skuld thought. "Okay, whatever." She said cheerfully and then went to sit over where he had pointed. School was a bit strange so far, but she felt like it was going to be fun.

Sentaro had other worries. _It's not like we don't have plenty of time, but we need to let our teacher know we are here._ He hung his head and sighed, _Not that I know where or who they are._ He leaned his forehead against the back of the chair in front of him. What kind of year was this going to be?


	3. Chapter 3

Please review. I suffer from a lack of critiques. I also suffer from a lack of praise. Whether or not you want to offer me one or the other, I don't care. Just tell me what you think.

PLEASE. The silence is killing me slowly.

Chapter 3

Skuld hadn't figured on being all that popular in school. The only reason she was going _at all_ was Sentaro. She had thought that she could enter quietly and have more time with Sentaro. It was not as if she had planned on estranging herself from her other classmates or anything. She just thought that she would be nice to them and for the most part she'd be left alone with Sentaro.

But before she could even _move_ during the lunch break, the girls in her class had surrounded her. After a flurry of introductions and counter-introductions, the girls finally got down to their _real_ business. "You are so smart! You didn't even look like you were even paying attention, and then you solve a math problem without even blinking!" exclaimed one girl. Skuld sighed softly and thought, just_ like in Heaven. Let the gossip begin._

"Oh, _Wow_." Breathed another girl who leaned in closely to inspect Skuld's face. "How _do_ you keep your skin so clear and smooth?" she asked. "You keep it so beautiful. What kind of skin care do you use?"

Skuld was about to answer when she remembered what Keiichi and Belldandy had told her before sending her off that morning. _"Skuld, you are a nice person, but you tend to put people off sometimes with the way you act. For at least the first day of school, tone it down a bit, okay?"_

"Skin care?" Skuld said, wrinkling her nose a little. "Um, what kind of care does skin need?" She stopped and looked around at the stunned faces around her. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked blankly. One of the girls recovered and hastily asked, "Well, how do you keep your hair so long, smooth, and shiny?" the girl leaned closer, touched her hair gently and said, "It's so soft and it smells really nice. What kind of shampoo and moisturizer do you use?"

"Um…" Skuld paused, trying to think a little before answering. Obviously she had said something the girls had considered stranger earlier. She had to handle this question a bit more carefully. "I use what my older sisters both use?" she replied hesitantly. A wave of relief passes over the faces of the girls around her. The girl asks, a bit more confidently this time, "What brand do they use? Is it something really expensive?"

Skuld wrinkled her nose again. Why were they asking all theses weird questions? Did it really matter what shampoo she used? It only cleaned your hair. She would understand the reason if they asked what oil she used most often as lubricant, or what brand of anti-freeze she used in winter, but _Shampoo?_ "They buy what we can afford. We usually don't have a lot of money because Keiichi and Belldandy don't make a lot of money from their job and there are a lot of other expenses. So we just buy the regular stuff. You know," Skuld paused, shifted a bit uncomfortably in her seat and uneasily glancing at the expectant faces surrounding her. "I think the brand is called Yot! Su Ba. My onee-sama buys it because she likes how it smells and it is in the range of our budget."

Skuld looks around at the ring of astonished faces around her. "Did I say something strange?" she asks confusedly. "Yot! Su Ba? That stuff is just plain kid shampoo!" a girl towards the back few rows of the ring protested. Skuld paused, and then hesitantly said, "Ummmm, yeah?" For a few moments, the silence was deafening. Then another girl bravely pushed on. "I am so jealous! You have such a nice figure. You have all the right weight in all the proper places. How did you get your bust to grow out so nicely?"

Skuld blushed. Was this a compliment? "Umm, no. But I still think they are kind of small. My sister Urd's are so much bigger. But…" Skuld paused " I think I don't want them to grow too much more. It would probably be a pain. And Belldandy onee-sama isn't that much bigger than me. A size in-between their two sizes would probably be ideal. Just the right size, so to speak."

"So your sisters are just as beautiful as you are?" Asked a girl. Skuld blushed. That was _definitely_ a compliment. "No, Belldandy onee-sama is much more beautiful than me!" Skuld protested. "And my other sister Urd is said to be very, very beautiful too. I have a way to go before I reach their level." Skuld brushed her hair behind her right ear a bit shyly. "And I am really not that beautiful. Pretty, maybe."

All of the girls immediately protested that Skuld was, indeed, very beautiful. Skuld was a bit surprised. "I wasn't fishing for compliments, or anything like that," She said "It's just that Onee-sama looks good in practically anything, and I can't quite match up to that."

The group all looked at each other."What do you mean?" asked one of the girls. "Well, she looks much better in mechanics overalls than I do." Skuld replied, a bit enviously, "I mean, if you can look beautiful in mechanics overalls, you can look good in _anything_,"

The girls around Skuld paused. "Mechanics overalls?" one asked hesitantly. "Why would she wear those?"

Skuld paused. Where they really that dumb? Or was it a rhetorical question? Whatever. Skuld would give them the benefit of the doubt. "Because Keiichi and Onee-sama are mechanical engineers. They work at a bike shop."

The girls looked at each other a nodded. This made more sense now. No matter how beautiful an older sister is, if she is a bike mechanic the younger sister isn't going to be exposed to many things other girls would be thinking about normally. And a natural foreign beauty… well, they should have expected that.

Skuld tossed her hair behind her casually and continued into the silence created by the pause, a slightly cocky smile on her face, "Well, I don't think I will ever surpass Onee-sama, but Urd better watch out." She laughed lightly, "She _is _starting to hit the age where she is a bit of an old maid." Skuld chuckled. "Okay, maybe I am kidding, a bit." The other girls looked at her a bit blankly, surprised by the sudden change.

There was a bit of a pause, and then one of the girls asked the question she had held in."Well, is there someone you like?" the girl asked. "Wh-wh-what?" Skuld stammered, blushing and smiling in embarrassment. And before the eyes of all the girls in class, she blushed even more deeply, looked away and said quietly, "maybe…"

It was a moment of epiphany for all the girls in class. _She is so… kawaii…_ was a common thought, right before a round of gentle teasing began, which lasted for a while until Skuld had recovered enough to continue talking. "So, who…" But before they could continue the conversation and ask the all important question '_who do you like_?', the bell rang and class began again.

Skuld sighed with relief. She had planned to eat lunch with Sentaro, but had been attacked before she could even get out of her chair. She turned her gaze toward his back, a few seats in front of her. _His shoulders have really grown out a lot,_ she thought lazily _and his back looks really broad. It would probably feel really nice to lean up against his back. Or into his chest…_ Skuld blushed and cut her daydreaming off right there. Her thoughts had wandered down weird paths lately. Especially when she thought about Sentaro. But it _would_ be nice to have him hug her. She could almost feel his big hands against her back right now…

Skuld blushed again, and stopped daydreaming because the next class was Japanese History. First day of school or not, she had to pay attention. It wouldn't bode well for her future if she didn't. Keiichi had informed her that an unacceptable grade in Japanese History would result in punishment by Urd. Skuld shuddered. No useless machines! It wasn't just a matter of pride anymore!


	4. Chapter 4

Please review… or my fanfiction soul will slowly wither and die from a lack of feedback.

This is not a place where there is a sign that reads "Don't feed(back) the writer"

Sorry folks. This chapter is pretty long in comparison to my other three. Just bear with me please.

Chapter 4

Skuld hummed happily as she packed up at the end of her first day of school. _Walk home with Sentaro time!_ She thought, putting the last of her books away. She was just about to get up to go over to his desk when she noticed a girl standing quietly in front of her desk. "Excuse me." The tall dark girl said quietly. "Hello. My name is Chika."

Skuld got up out of her chair and said, "Oh, yes. Weren't you elected class representative?"

The girl gracefully nodded, "Yes, that is correct. The teacher gave me this and asked me to give it to you." Skuld saw the note suddenly appear in her hands. _Where did she put that?_"Thank you." She took it and skimmed over its contents. 'The presence of Skuld Sukaeruwetteru is requested in the Teachers Lounge to answer some questions about prior education and to confirm the information included in her transfer paperwork. – Ichigo Sensei'

_Skuld 'Skaerwetter*'? Couldn't Keiichi think of something better? It sounds so harsh. The meaning is rather literal as well. And who is ever going to pronounce it right?_ Skuld thought, irritated, before the rest of the message sunk in. Crap. She had worked hard at remembering all the answers to the possible questions she could be asked, but now she was suddenly nervous. And then another problem reared its ugly head.

_Where is the teacher's lounge?_ Skuld wondered, panicked. "If you would like, I can show you the way to the teacher lounge." Chika offered gently. "Often teachers forget that new students from other schools don't know their way around yet, since this is an elevator school. The P.E. teacher, Ichigo sensei is famous for forgetting that, actually."

Skuld felt a wave of relief, though she still remained nervously tense about the upcoming questioning. "Thank you." She replied, "I would really appreciate that. Please lead the way."

Chika smiled and said, "This way please. This isn't really that urgent, so we can take our time getting there. Ichigo sensei is also in charge of troublesome students, so he will probably have to take care of several other things before we get there."

Skuld smiled. "Okay, thanks. But please hold on for just a moment. I need to take care of something first." Skuld turned and walked toward Sentaro's desk, where he was talking with one of the other boys in the class, quite possibly an old friend. "Sentaro-kun." Skuld said as she tapped him on the shoulder. Sentaro started a bit, and then looked at her and blushed before dropping his gaze. "Yeah, Skuld?" he mumbled.

"I have something for you from Onee-sama." She said, choosing to tel only part of the truth. She pulled out the letter she had quietly pressured Belldandy into writing for her. She was a little nervous, since she knew in _general_ what was in the letter, but Belldandy had insisted that she not read the completed letter. "I think she wants to ask you a favor." She dropped it into his hands and watched him read it. He scanned it and blushed. "S-Sh-She wants me to walk you part-way back to make sure it's safe." He said softly. "I don't think I can refuse."

_Yes!_ Skuld rejoiced inwardly. The effort had been worth it. "Okay, see you after I come back from the teacher's lounge." She said with a smile, "see you then!" And Skuld strode quickly out of the classroom, followed by the sounds of Sentaro getting a headlock and a noogie from his friend, along with the words "And when did you meet _her?_"

Skuld joined Chika in the hallway. "Thank you for waiting, Iinchou. Shall we get going?" Chika nodded and they started strolling down the hallway.

They walked in a comfortable silence, and Skuld surreptitiously observed Chika. Skuld had gotten pretty tall recently, but Chika was taller, and rather pretty. She had long hair, though not quite as long as Skuld's, and it floated out behind her a bit as they walked. _She seems pretty composed. And she has been pretty nice to me so far._ Skuld mused. Then a slight clinking sound came from Chika's schoolbag. Skuld looked, but didn't see anything, but then it clinked again and she saw it.

"Oh, that's really cute." Skuld said pointing and the zipper pull on Chika's bag. "Would you mind if I looked at it?"

Chika stopped and looked at Skuld quizzically. "Sure… I guess." She held out her bag and Skuld stepped up, grasped the zipper pull gently and leaned down a bit to look at it. "It's a… penguin, right? It's adorable!"

Chika's face lit up and took on a ridiculously cheerful cast. "Isn't it? I special ordered it from America! It's one of the characters from a movie about penguins called Happy Feet! Do you like penguins too?" Skuld was a bit taken aback at the sudden change. Chika sounded totally different from her usual composed tone. She was also talking really fast. _It's kind of cute how into penguins she is. She starts gushing._

Skuld thought, while carefully answering. "Penguins aren't my particular favorites, but they are cute." She said cautiously. She paused. "Iinchou you really like penguins, don't you?" Chika blushed. "Y-yeah, I like them a lot."

Chika blushed softly, looking faintly worried about Skuld's reaction. Skuld smiled. "You are so cute, Iinchou! Actually, I was looking at your zipper-pull and had an idea of my own. If I can manage it, it will be just a cute as yours!" _Keiichi won't object to a mini-Banpei zipper pull as long as it doesn't move in front of him or other people. What he doesn't know won't hurt him._ Skuld smiled brightly at the idea. _It'll be ridiculously cute too!_

Skuld laughed happily. Today was awesome! "Come on let's go, Iinchou!" Chika looked at Skuld a bit strangely and then smiled slowly. "You are really interesting. Let's be friends." Skuld blinked, astonished by the sudden change, but she really liked the idea. She smiled even wider. "Of course! Come on, Chika-san!"

Skuld came out of the teacher's lounge feeling relieved. All of the questions had been easy ones (relatively) and the biggest worry seemed to have been the last name issue. Skuld saw Chika waiting for her outside the lounge. "Chika-san! It's over." She called out, waving and smiling. Chika came over, and they started moving toward the exit. Chika leaned in and asked, "Can I walk home with you? I think I saw you coming to school this morning and we seem to go in the same direction. I think I can walk you back at least part way."

Skuld paused just a little, and then smiled. She would be walking home with Sentaro every day, pretty soon. Even though she felt impatient and wanted to be alone with him today, she could wait. She'd just made a new friend, after all! "Sure! I don't mind!" Chika smiled. "Thanks! This will be fun! Hey, actually, I was wondering," she continued straight on into the next subject. "I didn't mean to overhear, but I heard something about your last name come up. What was all that about?"

Skuld sighed. "Not you too! Where I come from, it is common to receive a different last name from either of your parents, and from any siblings. It used to be based off of the first name of the same sex-parent. So, if my dad was named Erik, and I had a brother, his surname would be Eriksson. And if my older sister Urd had a daughter, her daughters last name would be Urdsdotter."

Skuld paused, took a breath, and then continued. "But that fell out of favor. The last couple generations, the general rule has been to use your parents' last name until you come of age, and then you get your own. You usually don't get to choose it." Skuld wrinkled her nose. "Mine is… okay, I guess. I would have picked something different."

Chika blinked, and looked interested, but a little confused. "Okay. That was definitely interesting. A little too much all at once, though." Skuld flushed. "Sorry. I went into lecture mode, a bit. Just know that it's a cultural thing."

Chika laughed. "Okay, but most people are probably going to have problems pronouncing it."

Skuld sighed. "I know. But it could have been worse. If it had a few more R's or L's, _no_-_one_ would _ever_ get it right."

They walked on a bit, and then Skuld asked the question that had been niggling at the back of her mind the entire time she'd been in the teacher's lounge. "I'm glad we are friends, Chika-san, but…" Skuld paused. "Why the sudden change in attitude? I mean, you were _nice_ to me the entire time, but when you asked my to be your friend it was kind of sudden. Why did you do that?"

Chika blushed, "Well, you are interesting. I think it's best to be friends with people who are interesting." She said a bit hesitantly. But then Chika straightened up a bit and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "And you will probably know other interesting people, have unique ideas, and do exciting things." Chika smiled, a little mischievously. "I thought it would be fun."

Skuld was taken a bit aback. "Oh…" and then she shrugged. "True enough, I suppose." They continued walking, drawing nearer to the exit. "Oh! Yeah, Chika-san, Sentaro-kun is going to be walking with me too, at least until the bridge. You don't mind, do you?"

Chika looked at her strangely. "No, but another interesting thing is how you know him. Aren't you afraid at all? Of either him or his friend, that guy with the cold eyes, Furakawa?" Skuld furrowed her brow. _Why is Chika saying these strange things? Why would I be afraid of __Sentaro__ of all people? And anyone who is Sentaro's friend has obviously got to be just as nice as he is._

"What are you talking about, Chika? I have known Sentaro since about three years ago. Why would I be afraid of him?" _I am so confused._

Chika took a look at the confused look on Skuld's face and just let it go. Obviously Skuld wasn't afraid, so why should she be? They continued on a bit farther in a comfortable silence, and then they reached the campus entrance avenue. Skuld smiled, "I love all the sakura trees along this path." She said contentedly to Chika, "They make me feel so peaceful, and it's a very beautiful sight." Chika chuckled a bit and decided to tease Skuld. "Oh? And now I know you are a romantic. And I suppose you fell in love when you saw your mysterious crush here."

Skuld flushed. "Yes… and no." she said, trying to act mysterious to hide her embarrassment. "I've known him for a long time before but," she blushed again very slightly, thinking _I have never blushed so much before in my life!_ "I fell for him again when I saw him here. Not that he'd ever know."

Chika raised an eyebrow. Time for a wild guess. "Let me guess… hmm. Is he Sen-"

"Keep it a secret!" Skuld said quietly and urgently. "If you have figured it out, please keep it a secret!"

Chika laughed, "Okay, okay. Keeping secrets a part of being friends." Skuld relaxed and they continued toward the bike rack to pick up Skuld's bike. They started to round the corner, and Skuld's heart rose up into her throat when she saw Sentaro standing there, waiting for her. _Why am I so nervous?_ She swallowed, and her heart hammered even faster… and then plummeted down into her stomach when she saw another guy standing with him, also obviously waiting. It looked like the friend Sentaro had talked to earlier. _Why am I so disappointed? We weren't going to be walking home alone anyway. So what if he brought a friend too?_ Skuld ignored the small part of her that whispered 'It's because he only thinks of you as just a friend'

"Hey, Sentaro!" Skuld smiled and then called out to him. Sentaro turned to face her as she stepped quickly towards the bike rack. "Hold on just a few moments, alright?" she said as she undid her (unfortunately unmodified _very_ low-tech) bike lock. "Okay." The other three behind her chorused.

Skuld quickly shoved her bike lock in her bag and then wheeled her bike out. "All right, lets go." Skuld started walking beside her bike, since it seemed no one else had brought one. As the group of four left the bike rack, she asked Sentaro, "Sentaro, where's your bike? You mentioned once that you usually ride your bike to school."

Sentaro carefully looked away from Skuld and replied, "Oh, my bike broke, and I'm waiting for the new parts to come in so I can fix it. So I can't ride it to school or for my job for now."

"Job?" Skuld and Chika asked, nearly simultaneously. Sentaro looked over at the two and focusing mainly on Skuld, the person he actually _knew_, said, "Yeah, don't you remember I mentioned to you a while ago that I was running deliveries for the neighborhood shops? Well, I was just doing it as a favor, since they are all pretty nice people and good neighbors, but they all got together and decided on a flat fee that they would all pay me per delivery, plus they established work hours so I actually do my homework." Sentaro made a face, "Like I wouldn't do it if they hadn't told me to or something. On top of that, they decided delivery priorities based on food cooling times, travel time, and a first-come first-serve kind of thing. Everyone just decided to make it all official on me all of a sudden."

"Speaking of which, your parts probably came in with the mornings postal delivery." Sentaro's friend spoke up. "If you stop by dad's shop, we can fix it pretty quickly and you can go back to work if you want."

"Thanks man. I'll remember that." Sentaro turned back to the two girls. "I was going to tell you the next time I visited Skuld." He said apologetically. "No need to worry." Skuld said, flashing a smile despite a sinking feeling in her stomach. _He got a job, and that's why he hasn't been coming by. Obviously someone with way too much free time like me will take up too much time._

Sentaro kept speaking however, which didn't allow her to dwell on that depressing and probably untrue line of thought. "We obviously know each other, Skuld, but these two don't. Why don't we do some introductions?"

"Oops," Skuld said, "I forgot. Sentaro, this is Chika-san. She is our class rep, and we met after class and we got along really well, so we decided to become friends!" Sentaro and his friend traded raised eyebrows over the sudden change from class representative to friend, but neither said anything. Skuld ignored them and continued. "Chika-san, this is Sentaro, who was the first person to become a friend around my age after I came here to live with my sisters. I've known him for about three years now. And this is…" Skuld trailed off.

Sentaro picked up the thread of conversation; "I've known Daichi since middle school. I met him at a BMX biking rally, where he was helping his dad. It turned out that I had moved into his neighborhood, and we got along so we just naturally became friends. He's here today because Belldandy onee-san asked for me and a friend I trusted to make sure that Skuld safely gets most of the way home."

"Sorry if I have inconvenienced you Daichi" Skuld apologized.

"It's really no trouble, actually. We both live in this direction, and it's on the way to my younger brother's nursery school so it is actually pretty convenient" Daichi replied.

"Well," Sentaro added, "It's a pretty smart thing to ask though. Recently some delinquents have been harassing kids and businesses in our area. Two girls walking home from school would be easy targets if they didn't know about what's happening."

After the introductions had been finished, they all chatted, Daichi somewhat nervously, and Skuld and Sentaro more comfortably and Chika adding interesting comments here and there. This continued for a while they all walked slowly, enjoying the balmy spring afternoon. Eventually, all four of them comfortably carried a wandering conversation about what most would consider small talk. The weather, neighborhood gossip, all small but very enjoyable little everyday topics.

"We have to separate with you girls at the upcoming bridge." Sentaro brought up as they slowly approached that area.

"Okay, thanks for letting us know." Chika said.

There was a short but comfortable silence, and then Daichi hesitantly broke the silence with a question that had been bothering him. "Umm, Sukaeluwettru-san**, Iinchou." Daichi stumbled over Skuld's last name, but bravely forged on. " Would you mind if I ask a question?"

"Sure." "I don't mind." The two answered, almost simutaneously.

Daichi paused, almost delicately. "Many people, and almost all girls except for you two seem to find me…intimidating. Most people tell me my eyes look…sharp, or cold. I was wondering why you two don't seem to have a problem."

Skuld tilted her head a bit to her right and said. "You are Sentaro's good friend. It's because you both have very kind eyes." The two boys were practically synchronized when they blushed. Daichi nervously rubbed the side of his head and asked, "Wh-what about you, Iinchou?"

Chika stopped for a moment, and looked him slowly up in down, resting her chin on the thumb and finger of her right hand, her left supporting that arm. Sharp looking eyes, yes, but now that Skuld had pointed it out they were indeed kind. He was tall, and well-developed for a freshman, but obviously intelligent and what little she had gleaned from conversation all pointed to a hard-working, and well-liked young man among those who knew him better. But at the same time, his large build and deceptively sharp eyes made it easy for her to understand why many others found him intimidating. And a few chance comments had easily marked him as a somewhat doting older brother.

Chika smiled, while Skuld and Sentaro watched her uneasily during this quick moment of introspection. She narrowed her eyes. "Skuld knows interesting people. Interesting people often do. You," she paused and then started walking again, "are interesting."

Daichi blinked. He thought for a moment. And then he shrugged and continued walking. The four of them reached the bridge in short order, and Skuld and Sentaro began a semi-awkward goodbye. "Thanks for walking me this far, Sentaro-kun." Skuld said, facing him. "I really appreciate it."

Sentaro scratched the side of his neck while very carefully not looking directly at Skuld. "No problem. It was nice, since, you know…" He squirmed slightly and continued, "Since it has been a while since I saw you. Be safe on the rest of the way home."

While Skuld and Sentaro awkwardly said their good byes for the day, Chika and Daichi traded a significant look. Chika flicked her eyes toward the two, and Daichi nodded slightly. Chika smiled, and Daichi looked at the other two again, and then looked back and very deliberately winked. Chika winked back, a very slight and barely noticeable flush rising to her face. The silent pact, the well-meaning conspiracy, had begun.

After the goodbye finished, the boy's began to slowly cross the bridge, talking in quiet low voices, and the girls continued down the road for a bit. When the bridge was just out of sight, Chika said her goodbye and went down the road that lead to her home.

Skuld jumped on her bike, and the scenery started to easily flow by. What a wonderful day! _ I made a new friend, walked home with Sentaro, and it only looks to get better!_ Skuld thought joyfully. The temple came into sight and she put on a last burst of speed. _Awesome!_

She put up her bike and skipped into the entryway. "Tedaima! I'm home!" Belldandy came out, wiped her hands on her apron and smiled. "Okaeri. How was your day Skuld?" Skuld suppressed her smile. "It was okay. Onee-sama, is it okay if I ask why you asked Sentaro to bring a friend on the walk home today?"

Belldandy's face took on a slightly worried cast. "You were so insistent that I write a letter asking Sentaro to walk you home, so I thought you were worried about getting home safe. So I thought that you wouldn't mind if he found someone to give you extra protection." Skuld restrained her impulse to smack her palm on her forehead. _Of course Onee-sama would think that. I got her all worried over nothing._ "Thanks, Onee-sama. I would have been alright with just Sentaro, though. I didn't mean to cause you to worry."

Belldandy smiled gently. "I felt confident knowing Sentaro was there to help. Come here and sit down Skuld, and tell me how your day went." Skuld laughed and sat down at the table and picked up the glass of barley tea her sister had poured for her. "Okay!"

*A note about Nordic last names. Skuld's last name roughly (and I mean _very_ roughly) translates as 'Skaer' clean or pure (Skaer is often used in conjunction with water) 'wetter' or water.

The surname conventions of heaven are not directly analogous with the traditions I found in my research, but are pretty close. I am specifically referring to the new 'tradition' heaven has about receiving a new surname at your coming of age. The Patri/Matrilineal naming conventions are pretty much the same as real world examples, however. (i.e. Eriksson, Urdsdotter, etc.)

I used a Nordic last name for Skuld because a large part of the Ah! My Goddess system is based loosely off of Nordic myth. Goddess names in the series are all Nordic. So why stop now?

The version of Skuld's surname that will be most often in my fanfic will be the romanized version of it in katakana. That's why it has all the u's. Katakana doesn't have the hard r or l sounds that the name requires, nor does katakana ever use the s and k sounds so close together without another sound in between.

**Yes, already someone is mispronouncing her name. Welcome to Skuld's life for the next three years. Lol.


	5. Chapter 5

Please review. I beg you…

Chapter 5

"So, _that's_ the girl you have been head over heels for, for practically the whole time I've known you." Daichi said, friendly arm around Sentaro's neck as they walked across the bridge, the two girls now out of earshot. "You dog! Here I am trying my hardest to figure out which girl you like, while you act all mysterious and mature. I just thought you had a really good poker face."

Daichi chuckled, "You sure can pick them, Sentaro. She's beautiful, good-natured, and smart." He laughed a bit, "And there you are blushing like a little girl! Boy was I wrong!" Sentaro shoved his elbow into his friend's stomach. Daichi sat down on the bridge, laughing even harder.

"Shut up. You just assumed she was a girl at school, or in the neighborhood. Not my fault." Sentaro said, still blushing.

Daichi got up and brushed himself off. "Hey, no harm, no foul. I don't blame you keeping it quiet. She's practically idol material." Sentaro loosened up a little and then laughed himself. "Oh yeah! What about you? You got all shy once they treated you normally, stammered when asking why, and when Iinchou looked you over like she did, you looked like a tomato!"

Daichi tensed a little, and then relaxed and laughed as well. "I bet we both were an amusing sight when that little girlfriend of yours let loose with that killer line of hers! If she had been born a man, she'd be a natural lady-killer!"

The two laughed again and began moving across the bridge again. "So, the heavy-duty chain guard and new bike chain probably came in this morning." Daichi said casually. "Both of those are pretty expensive. I don't think I need to ask why, but your old chain guard and chain didn't break regularly, did they?"

Sentaro sighed. "No, you are right. One of the punks in one of my fights last week kicked the guard in just the right place to crack it, and the guard itself broke my chain. The new one is metal, so once it's installed, I won't have to worry about it anymore."

Daichi was silent. "I know you feel like you have to do this, but can't you just let…"

"No." Sentaro said firmly. "Everything will just go in circles, like before I started. At least this way everyone can move forward, however slowly."

Daichi sighed. "Just be careful. Nobody likes seeing you hurt all the time."

They finished crossing the bridge and Sentaro tried to lighten the mood. "Race you to your brothers daycare."

"Trying to break out of your losing streak? You suck at anything not BMX." Daichi replied, a competitive glint in his eye.

"We'll see about that." Sentaro laughed as they both bolted in the direction of the local daycare.

After they both arrived, breathing harder and sweating, their new school uniforms now in disarray. Sentaro laughed "Ha! Beat you this time!"

"Whatever, I was at least a half a stride in front!" Daichi shot back, also laughing in between ragged breaths. "You two…" The owner of the daycare came out, shaking her head. "Won't you two ever grow up?"

Sentaro snickered, and replied "Never, Auntie, never ever. It's too much fun to do silly things just because you feel like it."

Daichi chuckled, and elbowed him in the side, "You wouldn't even grow up for _her?_ I thought you had more grit than that." Daichi teased. Sentaro blushed and smacked Daichi's arm away from his ribcage. "Shut up."

Auntie Tougen raised an eyebrow. "Sentaro in love? I _have_ to hear about this. As soon as you go get your little brother ready to go, that is." Daichi stopped mid-laugh, panic stealing across his face as he saw his little brother peek from around the door, a slightly hurt look on his little face. "No, Sabure! I didn't forget you, I swear! I was just about to…" the door closed, and Daichi's shoulders slumped for a moment, and then he rushed inside. "Nooo, Sabuuu! I was just…" the rest of what he was saying cut off when the door closed behind him. Sentaro and Tougen-san smirked.

"No one at school would ever guess he is such an overly-doting older brother." Sentaro said amusedly.

"It's kind of cute how flustered he gets over every little upset over every little hiccup in Sabure's mood." She agreed. She sighed. "I really feel like a smoke. But I am out of cigarettes, again. Looking after kids can be fun, but today was a rough day." Sentaro stayed silent. Tougen leaned in a bit closer and whispered, "So who is this _her?_" Sentaro sighed.

"I was hoping you would forget about that. The person I have a crush on started attending our high school." Sentaro scuffed his shoe against the pavement. "Daichi is teasing me because he kept trying to guess who it was, and he couldn't ever get it right because he thought it was one of our classmates from middle school."

Auntie Tougen chuckled. "Alright, I won't tease you too much for today, then. But you aren't getting off this lightly forever. I will know eventually." She paused as Daichi came out, Sabure on his shoulders. "Off you three go. Have a good afternoon!" she called after them.

"Sabure has way too much fun when you carry him home on your shoulders." Sentaro told Daichi as they sat at his kitchen counter. Meanwhile, Daichi was trying to massage away the tenseness from trying to keep a hyper four-year old from falling off the aforementioned shoulders. "You really shouldn't spoil him like that." Daichi made a face at Sentaro. "I don't care." Sentaro chuckled. "I know. If you're done with that, let's go see if your dad is in the shop." Daichi got up slowly. "Alright, let's go."

The two friends began to noisily shuffle down the stairs. Before they got all the way down, the location of Daichi's father was confirmed. "Ah! The happy pitter-patter of young feet! How are you two doing? Come on in and join me. I think I have a nice surprise for one of you." Sentaro and Daichi both ducked under the lintel of the doorway leading into the bike repair shop.

"Hey Mr. Furakawa. How was business today?" Sentaro asked. Daichi's dad straightened up, wiping sweat off of his shaven head, his six-foot tall frame looming over the two boys.

"Not that good. There was a student that came by, but she seemed really afraid for some reason. Since it's unforgivable for cute girls to be afraid for any reason, I looked around to figure out why she was so afraid. And then I saw a boy her age peeking in at her from across the street."

Daichi hung his head. "Oh no, dad, what did you do?" he moaned softly. Daichi was rather aware of the fact that he had inherited not only his father's height, but also his face. That was part of his problem.

Mr. Furakawa looked at him, a hurt look on his face."I chased off her stalker, that's what. I really wish you would stop acting like I am an oblivious person."

Sentaro chipped in, "Yeah, Daichi. You don't know if it's a boyfriend or a stalker, so it's best to just play it safe." He chuckled, eyes dancing with laughter.

Daichi shot his friend a dirty look. "That's another scared customer that won't come back. Dad, you have to realize that someone as tall and muscular as you are can be kind of intimidating."

Mr. Furakawa wrinkled his forehead, "What are you talking about, son? Aren't I renowned around the neighborhood for being a nice guy, one who gets on really well with all the kids? Who would think I am scary?" and he smiled widely, a happy and somewhat silly look on his face.

Daichi sighed in exasperation. "That's **around the neighborhood**, dad. Whatever." He shook his head.

"Ah, before I forget, Sentaro." Mr. Furakawa pulled a box from underneath one of the work counters. "Your new part came in. I know you like to help maintain your bike, so I waited until you came over to install it. And this chain guard is kind of special, so I need your help anyway. Come over here."

"Alright, Mr. Furakawa." Sentaro replied as he slipped over next to the work counter that his bike rested on. "What do you need me to do?"

Daichi's dad opened the box and handed him the new part. "The part you ordered is unusual in the fact that it's probably best to install it with at least two people. This chain guard has a heavy back plate that needs to be mounted first. Supposedly it's supposed to help keep dirt and debris from screwing up your chain. After the back plate is mounted, you attach the gears, and then mount the front of the chain guard on the back plate, and then you put on the chain. Here," he pointed to the place he wanted Sentaro to hold the back plate, "Please hold it steady here while I anchor it to the frame of your bike and attach your gears."

"No problem, Mr. Furakawa. I owe you one." Sentaro did as instructed, patiently holding the back plate in place as Daichi's dad set to work attaching it. Daichi looked on quietly from the side. A comfortable silence fell over the trio. Sentaro's thoughts began to wander as he looked at the BMX bike he had used over the past two years. _So many scratches._ He thought idly, _and a bunch of them are pretty good memories._ It occurred to him that pretty much all of them involved Skuld. _It's such a shame most of the more recent scratches and scrapes are all from punks._

"Hey," said Daichi's dad, interrupting Sentaro's train of thought. "would you mind if I asked you a question?"

"Go ahead. It won't bother me." Sentaro replied, wondering what kind of question a bike mechanic would have for him.

"I noticed you don't have the original handlebars on this bike. Is there a reason your handlebars from a different bike?" Sentaro blinked. _Well, that was a curveball._

"Interesting question. Actually, these handlebars are from my old bike, and I really liked them. Well, that and…" A piece of a memory flashed into Sentaro's head. He managed to keep from blushing. "I have a couple good memories stored in those handlebars." Sentaro's eyes quickly flicked towards the slightly dented part of the crossbar. He could almost hear that particular piece of dialogue again. _"Is it okay?" "Yeah, the bike's fine." "Not the bike, you, idiot!"_

Sentaro smiled a bit dreamily. That was a particularly cherished memory of his. And there was no way he was letting those handlebars go until he had no other choice! "Yo, dude! You still awake?" Sentaro was jolted back into reality. A reality where Daichi was waving his hand in his face, and Mr. Furakawa stood waiting to move onto the next part of the installment with a slightly worried look on his face. "Sorry, guys. Thanks for waiting, Mr. Furakawa."

Sentaro wheeled his newly fixed bike smoothly out into the street. "Moves like a dream, Mr. Furakawa. Maybe I should have done this earlier." He said as he flipped down the stand, set down his backpack to open it, and pulled off his school uniform, revealing a black t-shirt and put on some black leather biking gloves and his helmet. Mr. Furakawa and Daichi looked on a little apprehensively.

"Sentaro, that chain guard is usually ordered by hardcore Mountain bikers who are tired of losing their chains to debris or really rough territory. Now, I know you are pretty rough on your bike because you like to take 'shortcuts' and do tricks, but…" Mr. Furakawa paused. "It could be considered overkill. Unless it's being used in a way it's not meant to."

Sentaro got on his bike and looked over at the father and son pair. "I don't really have much of a choice." He said softly. He looked away again. "I am going to go around and see if anyone has any deliveries today, just in case. I appreciate your concern, though. Thanks." Sentaro pushed off and began to pedal away. "See you guys later!"

Mr. Ryouiki, the owner of the local ramen shop, shook his head, "No deliveries today. I told my regular customers that you would be out of commission for around a week, so you'll have to wait for about two more days until the week is up. It'd take just about that amount of time to spread the news that you are back in business, so you should just wait. Come back in two days time."

Then the storeowner smiled, winked, and said "Instead, why don't you take the time to go flirt with that girl I hear you like."

Sentaro groaned. "I knew I shouldn't have told the most notorious gossip in the neighborhood even the smallest piece of information." He sighed. "Thanks Mr. Ryouiki. I appreciate everything you've done for me." Sentaro frowned slightly. "I find it ironic that _you're_ the one who suggested to make this arrangement official to the rest of them. I was only asking for an occasional free meal at your place. You probably lose more this way. Ow!" Sentaro rubbed his head where Mr. Ryouiki had sternly whacked him with his ladle. "What was that for?" he growled.

Mr. Ryouiki frowned, "I don't like being cheated, and I hate cheating others just as much. I was getting too much value from your services to feel like our deal was fair. The others just agreed with me." And then he was all smiles again. "Off with you, youngling. Perhaps the bakery has something for you. I know Sawanuma-san does, and Miwa-san and her husband probably might as well." Sentaro nodded and took off down the street, and Ryouiki yelled after him as he ducked under his shops noren, "Don't forget to say hello to Ren-chan for me! She's working a shift for her parents today."

Ren adjusted the white paper cap on her head as Sentaro walked in. "Hey, Ren-nee. How is business going?" he asked. She ignored him for a moment, staring at the last piece of some intricately plaited bread lying in the sample box on the counter while chewing absentmindedly on the end of her ponytail.

"Here, try this." She said abruptly, picking it up and shoving it into his hands. "Mom found a recipe for a fancy herbed plaited bread online and decided to experiment. Try this and tell me what you think."

Sentaro cast a suspicious glance at the piece of bread in his hands. _HERBED bread? I don't see any herbs, but I can certainly see filling at the cut end. Though the plaiting in the dough looks pretty cool._ He sighed. _She won't talk to me until after I do this. Might as well get it over with._ He tore off a bite-sized piece off of the right side and bit into the part with filling.

"Wow." Sentaro mumbled through a full mouth that was now filled with the delicious taste of peanut butter filling. "That is really good." He swallowed, tore off a piece from the middle, and this mouthful tasted of chocolate. "Mmmmm." Sentaro swallowed. "Wow, it's really good, Ren-nee. Maybe she is onto something this time."

Ren gave him a flat look. "You're not finished yet. Go on, eat the last of it." Sentaro had no problem with that. "Okay." He bit into the left side, expecting peanut butter filling. And got sweet red bean paste. "Pffff." He managed to swallow instead of spitting it out. It would have tasted fine, except… when it mixed with the flavor of chocolate and peanut butter. "Urghh…"

"Gross, isn't it? If she had stuck with just two flavors, it would have been fine, but…" Ren sighed. "She didn't. And knowing her, she won't take the suggestion to limit to two flavored fillings per bread well." She absent-mindedly straightened the short apron tied around her waist.

"Water." Sentaro rasped. That last bite tasted _nasty_. "Please."

Ren waved her hand at the cooler next to the counter. "Help yourself. On the house. It's the least I could do after you bravely ventured into the unknown." Sentaro quickly opened it and grabbed out a short bottle of water. He twisted open the cap and started to chug it down.

Sentaro stopped to take a breath. "Before I forget, Ren-nee, I need to ask if you have any deliveries today." She shook her head. "Nope, not today." "Mr. Ryouiki told me to say hi, by the way." He added.

Ren nodded her head, "Thanks. I'll be talking to him later, since we're eating at his shop tonight." She looked on as Sentaro finished the last of the water.

Ren smiled slyly. "So, what's this I hear about a cute girl? The neighborhood has been buzzing about it."

Sentaro threw the plastic bottle into the marked recycle bin, and sighed. "I've known her for a long time. And she started coming to our high school. That's all I'm telling." Ren laughed, clutching at her stomach. "'All you are telling'? I'd guessed you had a crush hidden away somewhere since the time you gave me a weird look when I asked you if you had a crush on _me_!" she laughed a bit more, bending over the counter. Then she straightened up and continued on, wiping tears from her eyes, "Now that I look back, it was only because I felt insecure about whether people here looked at me like a girl. I started to read too much into about how you and Daichi acted because you two little snots were the only ones that treated me like a girl."

Sentaro snorted, "All the other guys in this neighborhood are idiots who can't get past childhood memories. They only saw you as the tomboy neighbor who played baseball better than they did. I didn't have any of that to contend with, and Daichi is too sensible to be so short-sighted." Sentaro smiled. Payback time! "And all it took for me to figure it out was watching you moon over a picture in your student handbook. Whoever that guy is, he makes you act like a _total_ air head that reads middle school girl magazines and tries out all the bogus love charms in them."

Ren blushed and then smacked him angrily on the top of his head. "I'll get you for that Sentaro Kawanishi*! Off with you, before I lose my temper. I'm a university student now, and you can't make fun of me like that without proper retribution! Watch your back!" Sentaro laughed as he dashed out the door. "See you later!"

"Mrs. Sawanuma?" Sentaro stuck his head into the print shop looked around, "Do you have any deliveries for me today?"

The shop owner turned to look in his direction. "Nothing for the local companies, but the poster boards grandma Sonoteien asked for just finished printing. Could you take care of it for me? It's over here." Mrs. Sawanuma pointed at a poster carrier case leaning up next to the door.

"No problem, Mrs. Sawanuma. They'll have it in a bit, since I was headed over there next anyway." Sentaro said as he grabbed it. "See you tomorrow!" and he headed off to the Sonoteien's flower shop.

"Thank you very much for bringing these over, Kawanishi-kun." Grandma Sonoteien said after she had pulled out a poster board to check that it was as ordered. "My husband has absolutely no head for anything but flowers, so he kept procrastinating on this until I had to take care of this myself." She sighed tiredly, rubbing her wrinkled forehead with the back of her hand.

"Miwa!" came an irritated voice from the back of the shop where Grandpa Sonoteien had his greenhouse and workshop, "We need to find a way to get this bouquet to our customer!"

Grandma Sonoteien chuckled. "Just a moment, husband. I think I know the answer to our little problem." She patted Sentaro heavily on the shoulder. "Please wait a moment. This is the only delivery today, and we thought we would have to wait a bit longer until you got back, but this is fortunate." She disappeared into the back while Sentaro waited patiently, straining a bit to see if he could hear anything of the muffled conversation. Then she reappeared, and huge bouquet in her hands. "That young lad who rents a room from the Tougen's finally decided to ask that crush of his on a date. They are over in the park, so could you get this to him before too long?"

Sentaro carefully took the bouquet and started out the door. "No problem. It will only take a moment." He headed out the door, "Have a good afternoon!" he said.

Sentaro hummed as he slowly pedaled his way back from making the delivery. He hadn't seen any of the delinquents today, which was a good sign. Maybe they were starting to get the hint that they weren't welcome if they did destructive things? Nah, probably not. But he'd take one evening of peace anytime.

Sentaro hummed as he sped up a little. A night where he didn't need to drive off delinquents! He coasted with his eyes closed, feeling the cool evening breeze rush past his face and ruffle through his hair, and wonderful feeling flooding through him. He opened his eyes and spotted a raised garden set up high above the sidewalk in concrete. It continued on down the street until it ended in an opened up area at the corner of the street, close to the Sonoteien's flower shop.

Sentaro smiled cockily as he sped up and jumped up onto the ledge. He hadn't had the free time to do many bike tricks recently. Now that he had some time, he'd do a couple on the way home, just to get his blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing. Sentaro centered his bike on the thin strip of concrete that kept the gardening soil in and began to rush as fast as he could toward the end.

That got his heart starting to beat faster, and as he approached the takeoff point it beat ever faster, and faster. And when the critical point was reached, he raised his front wheel just enough so that he rocketed off of the ledge and did a back flip on his bike as he fell. Landed it!

"Haha." He laughed shakily, the adrenaline rush making him a bit shaky. It had been a long time, long enough that even this simple trick really got him going. He continued down the street lazily, looking for another spot to do a trick on the way home.

Sentaro weaved slowly down the street on his bike, and then rounded the corner to the Sonoteien's flower shop. And what he saw totally killed any good feelings he'd had that evening. "Hey, little cutie, how ya doin'?" a punk with bleached hair leaning up against the wall, trapping a girl up against it, as his four friends surrounded them and cut off all routes of her possible escape. "Why don't you come and play with me and my friends this evening? We will treat you," the punk stopped and leered, "_real_ nice, won't we guys?" The other delinquents chuckled nastily and the punk leered and leaned in even closer, running the back of his fingers up her jaw line. "Come on, cutie, whaddya say?"

Sentaro felt hot rage flow through him, and he clenched his jaw. _Isn't that the Sonoteien's grandkid? She just got into middle school this year. Those sick punks are at __least __juniors._ He felt a sick feeling in his stomach, and he pulled his biking gloves down tight onto hands trembling with rage. _Why can't any delinquents figure out that we __**don't want them here!**_ He took a deep breath. _Breaking windows, tearing posters, graffiti on buildings, bothering customers, all that is unacceptable. But when you start hitting on middle schoolers you are __low__!_ The heat of his rage cooled, leaving a cold, calculating anger that almost scared him more than the white-hot rage he'd felt moments before.

"Hey, jackass." Sentaro called out, his voice much calmer than he felt, "What the fuck," the curse word slipped out easily before he registered he'd said it. He continued on anyway, "do you think you are doing?" The punks' head snapped up.

"Who the hell are you talking to?" he snarled. "I'll kick your ass for that, punk." He pushed off the wall, and his friends moved into fighting positions. The girl took the opportunity to run while they were distracted, a frightened look on her face. Sentaro silently watched to make sure she got away safe, stretching out the silence uncomfortably. The punk got impatient.

"What, are you gonna chicken out now?" he yelled, "You aren't getting off that easily!"

Sentaro laughed, sounding scary-cold even to his own ears. "I was just waiting for you to work up your courage, bleach-brain." The punks face twisted and he charged toward Sentaro.

Sentaro pedaled as fast as he could, trying to get up enough speed to pull off what he needed to do so he could ditch his bike and fight on foot. He'd almost broken his legs last time punks had caught him while he was still on his bike. _That was a while ago, though_. He thought detachedly as he drew near to the punk. He stopped his pedals in the right position and tensed his legs. _Until I figured out how to do __this._

Sentaro whipped his right leg over the frame of his bike, put all of his weight on the front wheel and kicked the back of his bike with both legs so that his back wheel spun quickly out to connect with the punks jaw. He landed on his feet, took his weight off the handlebars and caught his bike seat when his bike rebounded from the impact. When he'd caught it, he quickly ditched his bike off to the side, where it probably received another scratch.

While the other delinquents were staring at their erstwhile leader who was still on the ground, Sentaro removed the bike helmet and tossed it near his bike. He walked over to the leader, who was rubbing his jaw, picked him up by his shirtfront and slammed a right punch into his gut. "Stay down." Sentaro said to him as he curled up, and then began to stalk in closer to the others.

They hesitated a bit, and then with a small yell from one of them, all four charged him as a group. _This is going to hurt._ Sentaro though dispassionately as they came within range. _Oh well,_

One delinquent lashed out with a left that Sentaro easily knocked to the side, and the other three all threw their own punches, which he easily dodged. And then they began to fan out around him. _Crap_. Sentaro lashed out with a left kick and hit one of them in the gonads. The punk dropped. Sentaro leaped over the downed punk and turned to face the other three who moved to surround him again. This time, one of them managed to strike out first a wide and practically useless punch, which nonetheless clipped Sentaro on the right side of his forehead, opening up a stinging cute on his right eyebrow. Sentaro stepped in and elbowed him hard in the gut, followed up with a blow with the back of his right hand to the punks face.

_Two left_. Sentaro thought, just as one of those two landed a solid punch to his gut. "Uurk." Sentaro fell back, clutching his stomach, his knees gone weak. Now it wasn't looking good for him at all. _I have got to at least hurt one of them,_ he thought as they moved in closer.

Then a familiar voice came out from behind him. "I told you to be careful, idiot." And Daichi kicked one of the punks in the side. "Just because you've gotten better doesn't mean you can take on five by yourself." He said as he kneed the same punk in the gut.

"Right…thanks." Sentaro said slowly as he straightened up, the pain in his gut receding slightly. He coughed. "Let's finish this up." He and Daichi turned their gaze to the last punk, who was still standing there open-mouthed at the sudden development. And then he snapped it shut and started to back up. Sentaro moved in quickly and snapped his hand out to grab the delinquent's shirtfront. "I'm getting tired of saying this to you people." He said slowly and deliberately. "I don't care if you smoke cigarettes, or skip school, dye your hair weird colors or put it into weird styles. But if you want to hang out in this area, you need to act like_ actual_ people and not gorillas, got it?" Sentaro stared the punk down until he nodded. "Okay. Get your friends and leave. If I see you people doing something stupid again, I'll fight you. Even if I lose, the next time I see you, I'll fight you again. This will continue until you stop doing what I don't like, or you leave. Understand?"

The delinquent nodded, "Yeah, okay. I understand." The delinquent said nervously. "You aren't going to beat me up now, are you?" Sentaro stared down coldly at him. "No, but tell your friends what I said. Now leave." The punk moved toward the leader and picked him up, and the other delinquents got up slowly and they left, limping and beaten.

Daichi and Sentaro watched until they were gone, and then Daichi grabbed Sentaro by the ear. "You're coming with me, idiot. Grandma Sonoteienhas a first aid kit ready, and we will clean you up so you can go home."

*I double-checked this using several sources, and Sentaro's last name is Kawanishi as far as I can tell.


	6. Chapter 6 The advent of MiniBanpei

Review. Please.

A warning. This may seem like a filler chapter. It's not. I introduce important details. It is meant to be more of a fun chapter, though. Please enjoy.

Another note. I don't usually title chapters, but I just couldn't resist this time.

Chapter 6 the advent of mini-Banpei-kun RX

"Keiichi won't ever be able to guess that mini-Banpei will be able to move." Skuld chuckled as she sat at her workbench, carefully soldering the last parts into place. "He'll see the floppy legs and arms and just assume you are actually 'just' a zipper pull." She patted her creation gently on the head with one finger. "Won't he, mini-Banpei?"

Skuld leaned back in her work chair and stretched for a moment. "A month's wait for the materials I special ordered from Heaven and week's assembly time is going to be totally worth it!" She turned her chair towards her computer. "I should probably take care of his boot-up and initialization while everyone is still out for today." Skuld brought up the proper program and tapped 'Enter'. "Start!"

Power flooded through new circuits, bringing life throughout the system. MBZP-1, with user-name 'Mini-Banpei' began to remember, moment to moment. MBZP-1 took the newfound power and began to run its most basic program, which in turn launched his boot-up.

**:Power- connected, charging. Main OS connection – searching…:**

**:Individual unit OS- booting. Visualization systems coming online:**

**:Aural systems coming online. Aural data processing begin in sync with VS:**

**:Mobilization systems- currently sealed. Mission priorities loading, waiting for Main OS confirmation:**

**:Visualization systems online. Visualization/Aural data processing beginning in…:**

**:1…2…3.:**

"Hey? Hello? Oh, there you are! Can you see me? Your Mobilization capabilities are sealed until you gain wireless contact with Banpei, your main operating system. Please hold on until the wireless connection becomes stable." A voice came from the flesh colored blur above him. "Hold on a bit." The blur added.

MBZP-1 zoomed in on the face of the one his limited memory banks informed him was his creator. Creator-User name- Skuld-sama. MBZP-1 zoomed his sight back out and began scanning the room. There were two other presences, both mechanical.

"Skuld-sama, why is it so small? It's limbs look practically useless as well. What is its purpose?" asked the mechanical presence wearing human clothes. MBZP-1 searched his data banks for information and received the unit-name of "Sigel". Creator-Skuld-Sama reached back to gather her hair back into a ponytail again. "Neither you or Banpei-kun are allowed to come with me to school, and Keiichi and Onee-sama have banned all of the modifications I wanted to make to my school gear. Mini-Banpei will be a separate unit that can keep an eye on me for you two worrywarts, and help me with little errands in an inconspicuous way. His limbs only _look_ useless. I bought the material for them from heaven, and created a magnetic system that works just like Banpei's legs. But just without the mechanical parts. And," Skuld-sama stopped and looked down fondly on MBZP-1 "isn't he just so _cute_!"

The second mechanical presence, unit-name Banpei, (OriginalOpSys, MBZP-1 marked as a note in its memory banks) took out a strange object and drew what looked like…blush lines? 'Sigel' mumbled something in an undertone, which drew a knowing smile from Skuld-sama.

MBZP-1 noticed another surge of processing power, and put more effort into making wireless connection with Main OS.

**:Main OS- found, currently connecting. Connected. Mission priorities:**

**:1. Forward unit responsible for user 'Skuld-sama' safety and relay of pertinent information and mission priorities in Emergency situations to main OS 'Banpei-kun RX'. 2. Mobilization only permitted in front of user 'Skuld-sama' or when no other human present. 3. When Mobilization is permitted, unit MBZP-1 is to stay in 'stealth' mode. 4. Obey orders of user 'Skuld-sama' and achieve all missions possible within unit capabilities:**

**:Mobilization System- unsealed. Permission Granted.:**

**:IOS contact with land-based memory bank marked 'MBZP-1 Personality Bank. Additional memory provided for IOS and increased unit capacity.:**

MBZP-1 activated his mobilization program. He moved an arm. "Look, it works!" 'Sigel' exclaimed, "Skuld-sama, you are a genius!" Skuld-sama pulled on her earlobe and… MBZP-1 searched his now expanded information base and found the proper word, 'smiled'. "You betcha! Give him some space, this will take a while." she said.

MBZP felt a strange program included with the additional information in the off-site memory bank begin to operate, and based on a strange feeling in his circuits, he sent a message to the main OS. **:Permission to add mission priority 5. Protect user 'Skuld-sama's' human expression 'smile' at all costs.:**

MBZP-1 sat up and turned his head toward the OOS unit, 'Banpei'. Unit 'Banpei's' visualization units met MBZP-1's, and there was a pause. And then the return message was received by MBZP-1's IOS. **:Main OS permission- granted. Mission priority 5 added to unit MBZP-1's memory bank and official IOS procedure:** MBZP-1's 'emotion' circuit prompted it's understanding of unit 'Banpei's' use of 'markers'. **:Personal sub priority 1. Find item called 'black crayon' added.:**

Skuld sat up against the wall with her arms wrapped around her folded up legs and watched mini-Banpei fall down again. Sigel remained next to her. "Why is it so clumsy?" she asked a bit haughtily, also watching the new unit. Skuld shot her a look and asked, "Has really been so long since you had similar operation troubles that you have already forgotten?" she asked, a bit sharply. Sigel's face took on an apologetic cast. "Sorry. I didn't think to check those memories."

Skuld sighed. "It's alright. Mini-Banpei has a completely new mobilization system and programming, and without the proper data, it isn't finished. He has to gain experience of what works and doesn't work, and using that data he and Banpei-kun are finishing the program. He'll figure it out eventually. A proper analogue is the stage of human and heavenly development where young children have to learn how to walk on their own. Not that parent's or siblings don't help, of course." Skuld brushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "It might seem a bit cruel, but it is really tough but very important."

Sigel looked and Skuld with wide eyes. "Skuld-sama didn't know how to walk at first?" she asked, shock evident on her face. Skuld glanced at her. "No. And neither did Onee-sama, Urd, Keiichi, or Sentaro." Skuld set her chin on her knees. "It's nothing special." Sigel gave her a dubious look, but went back to watching mini-Banpei struggle to stand up and walk properly. Skuld broke the silence, "You might just want to think of mini-Banpei as Banpei-kun's kid brother." She said musingly, watching fondly as the new unit took a shaky step forward, and then another. "That would make you like an Onee-san, wouldn't it?"

"O-o-onee-san!" Sigel stammered. Skuld released her legs and leaned back against the wall, smiling in Sigel's direction. "Yep. Please look after my child!" she said teasingly. Sigel quieted down and took on a thoughtful look, "Alright." she said quietly. The two relaxed for a moment, watching as Banpei and mini-Banpei worked together harmoniously. Skuld smiled, grabbed Sigel's side and pulled Sigel closer to her, and then leaned over near Sigel's ear. "You just love watching your boyfriend act like a reliable and loving older brother, don't you?" Skuld whispered teasingly.

"B-b-boyfriend? Reliable? Him?" Sigel stammered, with a panicked look on her face, "Never!" Skuld laughed as she pulled Sigel into a hug and Banpei and mini-Banpei stopped what they were doing and looked over at the two of them questioningly.

Keiichi carefully looked over the mini-Banpei 'zipper pull' Skuld had asked permission to bring to school. He had to admit, it was really good work. It looked almost exactly like a really miniature Banpei, with the exception of the limbs which were composed of the closely segmented round key chain chains you often saw connecting the cute SD character to the key ring. Well, that and the open/close hook used to attach to the zipper, connected to his hat by a small metal ring.

Keiichi put his hand below the feet and dropped it. It dropped like a stone into his hand, the legs bending and not holding any weight at all. "I'll allow it. I was suspicious when I saw the hands and feet would probably work exactly the same as Banpei's, but the limbs are useless. Go ahead. It is very…" Keiichi paused. "'Cute'."

Skuld smiled, "Thanks Keiichi. I don't think you need to check _every little_ thing I ask to bring with me," she rolled her eyes, "But you could have held it up for a couple of days checking it, and I really appreciate this. I'm really looking forward to showing this to a friend of mine." Skuld smiled, showing brilliant white teeth. "One that likes cute things."

Skuld locked her bike onto the bike rack and then started moving toward her classroom when she saw a familiar figure. "Chika!" she waved and called out and then skipped toward her best friend. "Check this out!" and Skuld held out her school bag. Chika turned toward Skuld and smiled. "Morning, Skuld." Chika leaned in a bit and picked up Skuld's zipper pull. "Its cute, Skuld. Where is this character from?" Chika asked. "It looks like a SD mascot character."

Skuld froze for a moment. _I totally forgot about how to explain this._ "I-it is!" she said nervously, "H-he is a mascot character for a little known mecha show. It's kind of like a love comedy," Skuld fidgeted nervously, trying to find the proper mix of lie and truth. "It's called _'The Familiar of Sigel'_. This is the SD version of the main male hero, Banpei."

Chika straightened up and smiled, "That is very interesting. I haven't watched any anime since '_Neon G*n*sis Ev*ng*li*n_' was finished*, but it sounds very good. Maybe you can show me an episode or two sometime. Does it have any penguins?"

Skuld flinched a little, "N-no, not really. It might be better if there was, though." She finished weakly. Chika smiled, and laughed saying, "Well, maybe not, then. Come on, let's get to class." Skuld let out a silent breath of relief and smiled as the two friends began to walk leisurely down the hallway to their classroom, chatting comfortably.

MBZP-1 was busy taking in important reconnaissance information while bouncing off the side of Skuld-sama's bag. This was an important task the main OS had told him was a large part of his first priority. He already had gathered much pertinent information about the 'friend who likes cute things', user name 'Chika'. He continued to gather such information, despite such awkward circumstances. Banpei would be proud!

…MBZP-1 checked to see where this feeling in his circuits had come from and pinpointed his 'emotion' circuit. That circuit was not broken, diagnostics told him, and was working properly. **:'Proud'? Query: What is 'pride'?:** The definition was supplied by MBZP-1's external databanks. He pondered, and then moved on. 'Pride' was apparently a positive force, so it had no bearing on the current mission.

MBZP-1 had no way to describe the current need to move around that had dominated much of his processing power since the time Skuld-sama had set her bag down next to the wall in-between the wall and her desk. He was now gaining much less useful intelligence, having already sent preliminary profiles of all the human units who regularly initiated communication with Skuld-sama. Now he had two problems.

MBZP-1 considered all of his problematic situations and began running his problem-solving continuity program. After a wait of thirty minutes in which he weighed all possible solutions and alternatives in his program, he came to an acceptable conclusion. MBZP-1 activated his wireless connection with the main OS and sent a query.

**:Mission completion operating an unacceptable inefficiency rate. Permission for Mobilization? Explanatory solution-reaching data attached.:**

MBZP-1 waited for a reply from Banpei. After a somewhat lengthy pause, which he decided signified time taken for Banpei to run the query through the appropriate decision-making program in the OOS, MBZP-1 received the reply.

**:Permission granted. Solution-reaching data correct. Unit MBZP-1 to begin filling mission parameters in 'Mobile Stealth Mode'. Particular emphasis on complete basic information of all affiliated facility staff and 'student' users. Emphasis also placed upon complete obtaining complete architectural 'blueprints.:**

MBZP-1 began silently initializing his newly completed mobilization programming, a warm glowing feeling from the second line (of praise!) in the reply when a second message came from Banpei.

**:Caution to unit MBZP-1 to follow priorities 2 and 3. Second caution for unit MBZP-1 to keep unit's body and programming intact.:**

MBZP-1 finished initializing the mobilization program, a different and more complicated feeling in his circuits, originating again from the 'emotion' circuit. MBZP-1 dismissed pondering the 'emotion' circuit mystery for the time being, and began running his problem-solving program to deduce how to detach himself from the zipper.

MBZP-1 left behind the room Skuld-sama and her classmates were in with a strange feeling of 'relief' and 'excitement'. After unhooking himself from the zipper, MBZP-1 had initialized his 'Mobile Stealth Mode' program and had managed to silently make his way into the venting system with minimum possible noise or visual exposure. MBZP-1 extended out his limbs, his hands and feet now turned to wheels, and silently rolled down the vent. He reviewed his mission objectives now that his circumstances had changed.

**:Priority 1. Gather appropriate Recon. Information. Sub priority 1.1 Complete facility personnel and 'student' list. Sub priority 1.2 Completed 'blueprint' of facility. Priority 2. Gather Skuld-sama related information, divided into 4 categories. C1-Skuld sama C2 Chika Unaware-san C3 Sentaro Kawanishi-kun C4 Daichi Furakawa-san. Priority 3. Compile information and begin running data through analyzing program to determine possible threats and allies.:**

MBZP-1 contacted his external database to help determine where the information demanded by Priority 1 and its two sub priorities would most likely reside. His database informed him that both sub priorities were likely to reside in either the location called 'the Principal's office' or 'the teachers office'. MBZP-1 recalled all prior information and scanned to find anything pertinent. A chance mention by two unknown students confirmed the general location of the 'teachers office'. No information as to the location of a location called 'the Principals office'.

MBZP-1 oriented himself in the appropriate direction and silently trundled in toward his new objective.

MBZP-1 stopped over the grate leading towards the room he had tentatively identified as the 'teachers office'. He carefully unscrewed the grate, and then began to ponder his next big problem. How to see if there was no one in the room or… he checked the database for the appropriated colloquialism, if the 'coast was clear'.

MBZP-1 decided to use his aural systems to check for movement. He stilled completely and began to silently listen to the fullest of his unit capabilities. He waited… and heard nothing. MBZP-1 turned in the vent so as to properly see the landing site, so as to run programs so he could land without harm. He ran the programs, and prepared to drop. There was another strange feeling in his circuits. 'Tenseness', or 'Nervousness? Whatever. MBZP-1 dropped.

MBZP-1's landing had been a bit rougher than calculated, but he had quickly scampered under cover, in case he had been wrong about the number of unaffiliated humans in the room. But he hadn't, and so he came out into the open on the desk he had landed upon. MBZP-1 saw a number of objects unaffiliated with the work the individual who owned this desk had spread all over its desk, and suspiciously checked his database for more information. There was the 'family picture', put out boldly next to the computer, a 'bobble-head' for some unimportant sports team, a number of sports-affiliated goods scattered in relatively inconvenient spots around the desk, and the actual work material seemed to be spread haphazardly across the desk.

Deep in MBZP-1, he felt a deep 'disapproval' for such an inefficient arrangement. Who was the human individual who owned such an inefficient desk? He looked for the 'nameplate'. Ichigo Yamazake-sensei. One of the staff of this facility. MBZP-1 opened a new file for the individual and added a slightly derogative comment about this individual's efficiency level. And then MBZP-1 got down to business.

The computer had been easy enough to access, and MBZP-1 and Banpei-kun had gathered both a complete basic list of both students and faculty in very little time. They had also managed to find a supposedly accurate two-dimensional 'blueprint' that showed the overall school 'campus'.

When the two of them had gathered all relevant information in the system, they pulled out carefully, making sure to leave no trace that they had been there. Banpei advised that MBZP-1 should verify that the 'blueprints' they had found were at least relatively accurate. MBZP-1 agreed, and began to prepare himself for leaving the room undetected. Until a chance bit of information that had been secondarily flagged came to his attention. 'Writing utensils of all types usually reside in drawers, especially in work desks or other work-related furniture'. MBZP-1 looked carefully at the attached secondary information about the object 'black crayon'. A 'black crayon' was indeed a subcategory of 'writing utensil(s)'.

MBZP-1 decided to have a little look in the drawer of Yamazake-sensei before continuing his mission. He went to the edge of the desk, and braced his feet against the handle of the top drawer and his hands against the edge, and eventually pushed it open. He dropped down.

MBZP-1 continued down the vent, a little disappointed. There had been no 'black crayon' in the drawer, although other writing utensils had indeed been there, along with a number of other things, including a train pass holder with two outdated train passes in addition to the current one, as well as a picture of a girl the MBZP-1 had recognized from the retrieved higher education data, but he could not make a positive identification until the data had been fully processed. He had made a note on Yamazake-sensei's profile anyways.

On the other hand, the leftover string and various thick paperclips he had found and borrowed made a wonderful him-sized grappling hook he had used to get back in the ventilation system. MBZP-1 checked to make sure that the attendant item was still firmly looped around his torso. It wouldn't do to lose such an efficient and useful tool.

MBZP-1 continued to trundle down the ventilation shaft; a bit louder since the ambient background noise had risen significantly since a bell had rung. He passed over another grate and heard an important word. "…Skuld-sama…". MBZP-1 stopped. Mission priority 2 now overrode the sub priority of checking to make sure gathered data was accurate. MBZP-1 stopped, positioned himself to receive aural information as well as possible, and a small amount of visual data as well. He settled in to retrieve as much valuable information as possible.

Underneath mini-Banpei, the second weekly Skuld Fan Club meeting had begun. "Alright, everyone, come to order now." said the male student at the front of the room, "If you don't settle down, we'll be found and disbanded. You guys know that official or unofficial fan clubs for other students are strictly banned in this school. Shut up, and we can start."

A hush fell across the room. The male student swallowed. "My fellow brethren, we are all gathered here for one reason." He looked across his audience carefully, trying to make the illusion of meeting every eye. "We are here to proclaim the awesome beauty of our idol, Skuld-sama, to the rest of the school, no the rest of the world!" he said passionately, a slightly disturbing gleam in his eye, one mirrored by nearly every other pair of eyes in the room. "For this reason, I have brought you here together, my brethren, for the specific and dangerous purpose of creating this fan club. We will not let something as silly as a school rule stop us!" He paused momentarily, but then quickly continued.

"Well, just because it won't stop us, doesn't mean we want to be in trouble. So our mission is to provide support for Skuld-sama in every way possible, from the shadows. This is dangerous work, as if we are caught, there is a large likelihood of every member being severely punished, and the leaders can possibly be 'executed', depending on how the principal," and every boy in the room shuddered at the mention of. The speaker swallowed and continued, "Depending on how she is feeling at that moment. If you are new, and you don't wish to put at least this much on the line for Skuld-sama's sake, you may leave now." The room stayed quite.

The speaker nodded, "Alright, brethren. My name is Jounichi, and it was originally my idea to put this together. The purpose of this club is," Jounichi pulled a pre-prepared chalkboard to the front of the room, and flipped it, showing a list of precepts he had prepared for the club. "One, Skuld-sama is everyone's. We will punish any boy getting close to her in an impure way. Two, to cheer on Skuld-sama at any time she may need it, in the face of punishment. These cheering squads will be the brave front-line soldiers, examples for us all. Three, we also exist to make Skuld-sama's life easier. If there is any capacity we may be useful in, we must volunteer her our services. And," Jounichi paused dramatically, "Finally, Four, we exist to praise Skuld-sama's beauty and grace!"

A hushed clapping fell over the room, followed by a muffled standing ovation. MBZP-1 began to prepare a preliminary report for the main OS.

**:Organization, Skuld Fan Club. Status; unofficial, suppressed, supportive. Possible allies in emergency situation?:**

Underneath mini-Banpei, the members had returned to their seats. "The meeting after next, all members on our secret roster will receive a secret membership card, with the number corresponding to when they signed up. These will be free, paid out of my own pocket." The assembled members murmured approvingly, and Jounichi smiled. "Next week, we will have elections for the leadership positions in the club. But, now onto the main event!" Jounichi stepped down from the front. "Open discussion about Skuld-sama! Who wants to go first?"

A member toward the back raised his hand and then made his way to the front. "I just want to talk about how I came to love this school." He began nervously, clasping sweaty hands before him. "I was staring into the hallway, when Skuld-sama walked by, and I realized why our girls school uniforms are perfect." He swallowed, and continued, "The uniform colors perfectly match Skuld-sama's complexion, and the shirt is just tight and thin enough that if you catch girls in the right light you can sometimes see…" the member blushed and swallowed, and all of the other members reacted similarly. "And the skirt length is perfect!" he continued on, speaking faster and in a rising tone. "Mid-thigh is just long enough to make girls feel comfortable wearing them, while we get to enjoy the sight of the contrast between Skuld-sama's creamy skin and the color of the skirt, and…" his voice rose triumphantly, "the length is just short enough that it can be flipped up in a good wind!"

The room burst into cheers and clapping, and as the member blushingly returned to his seat, up in the ventilation shaft MBZP-1 was editing his report, rage overheating his circuits.

**:Organization, Skuld Fan Club. Status; unofficial, repressed, supportive. Red Flag: members are, perverted, uncouth, and maniacal. Slight possibility of widespread member insanity. Possible enemies in non-emergency situations. To be prevented from coming near Skuld:**

Skuld smiled at Chika, happiness beaming from her face. "It is a wonderful school day, isn't it?" she said happily as she rummaged over near the wall to find her lunch that Belldandy had packed for her. Chika looked at her slyly, "My, my, aren't you in a good mood. And just because you watched Sentaro correctly answer a history question you considered difficult." She said softly as she leaned on Skuld's desk. Skuld blushed, "Shhh! Chika!"

Chika laughed, "Just teasing. Hey, is something wrong?" she asked after Skuld got a shocked, and then slightly worried look on her face. Skuld looked up and smiled again. "Nothing, why do you ask?" Skuld replied, as Chika gave her a suspicious look. "Hey, let's go look for the guys. Usually they wait for us at lunch, but they seem to have mysteriously disappeared today." Skuld added. Chika's face took on a look of understanding "Ooohh, so that's what you were worried about." Chika grabbed Skuld's arm and laughed, dragging her out of the classroom. "Come on, let's go look for your lover-boy." And as they made their way down the hallway, Skuld desperately wondered, _Mini-Banpei, where did you go?_

MBZP-1 was making his way away from the den of the enemy and was headed toward the attached teaching facilities for younger 'students', when he had another stroke of luck. "So, Sentaro, a little desperate for time away from the love of your life? This is something new and unexpected from someone who has been in love with a beautiful girl for three years." Daichi said, taking out an onigiri, "Hiding in an unused storage room, seriously, what gives?"

MBZP-1 stopped and settled in to take care of, at the very least, priorities C-3 and C-4. Why settle for second hand reconnaissance when you can get information directly from the source?

Sentaro shot his best friend a dirty look from his position, sprawled across a stack of cardboard boxes. "It's not like her coming to school is only so she can be with me. She deserves some time hanging out with girl friends, and talking girl talk. Without me getting in her way, or making her feel guilty about not sitting and talking with an old friend. I'm not the center of her universe**."

Daichi's moment of silence spoke volumes for him, but he continued the conversation before it got awkward. "So, you want a little guy-only talk then. Okay." He continued casually, taking a bite of his onigiri. He swallowed, and asked "So, why do you like her so much? Besides the obvious, I mean." Sentaro gave him a flat look, and asked, "Were you listening to a word I was saying?" Daichi ignored him and asked, "Well?"

Sentaro blushed and fidgeted. "Well, she is really good with her hands, and making things." Daichi raised an eyebrow, "Like jewelry? That's a bit unusual." Sentaro shook his head. "No, she mainly works with machines." Daichi wrinkled his forehead. "Machines? Like, sewing machines?" Sentaro got annoyed look on his face. "No, with motorcycles and stuff. You know, like _machines,_ automobiles, and robots and stuff."

Daichi got a stunned look on his face. "_Her?_ She works with _motorcycles?_ That isn't very girly." He said, astonished. Sentaro lost his temper for a minute. "_That's_ rich coming from you, considering _your_ hobby." He said disgustedly. "I thought you'd know better."

Daichi looked ashamed. "Sorry. I forgot. A guy who puts up with a surprised reaction from most people who find out he likes to cook and sew should know what that kind of reaction feels like, huh?" he said softly. Sentaro immediately calmed down. "No, it's okay. But seriously, you have no idea how good she looks in mechanics overalls." He said. "Sorry I snapped." Daichi smiled and said, "No, its okay. You were just being a good friend and reminding me I was being hypocritical. But I never pegged you as having such a weird kink. Mechanics overalls?"

Sentaro shot him another dirty look. "Shut up. It's not a kink. She looks good in everything, but especially in those clothes. It's because she gets all excited, and she looks even cuter than normal." Daichi eyed his friend with a slightly disbelieving look. "If you say so." Sentaro narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah? I've seen you eyeing the class rep recently. Tell me what exactly is so cute about her, huh? There has to be a reason you keep looking in her direction." Sentaro said smugly. "Fess up."  
Daichi was the one who blushed this time, and then carefully looked away. "I'm only interested in how other people in class view her. I mean, she has this reputation for being the perfect class rep, and getting things done really efficiently and well, but doing it in a weird way. That, and she has scared off all of the boys who volunteered to help her with committee's and things. I just find that kind of stuff interesting." Daichi rambled, not looking his friend in the eye. "It's not like I really like her or anything." Sentaro chuckled. "Right. Sure. Here's just a piece of friendly advice, though. It's best not to rely on rumors to learn more about a person you like. Not that that's what you have been doing or anything."

Daichi fidgeted, "She likes penguins a lot." Sentaro looked at his friend amusedly, "You probably noticed that two minutes into conversation with her. You'd have to be a complete idiot to miss that once you get to know her at all," he said, grinning. "Let's try for something less obvious next time."

MBZP-1 decided that he had gleaned all the useful information he could from this conversation when talk then turned into an endless round of gentle teasing. He compiled the recorded data and sent the report to the OOS and continued on.

Skuld and Chika had given up looking for the two boys and were eating their lunches on the campus grounds, ignoring the ever-larger groups gathering around them. "I wonder where they went." Chika mused as she took a bite of eggs. "It's like they just disappeared!" In the meantime, Skuld was panicking despite her calm appearance. _Yes, where did mini-Banpei disappear to? And where are the boys, when I need them. I could calm down if Sentaro was around?_ Skuld took a bite out of her lunch and tried to calm down. "It's not like the boys can skip the rest of school. They'll be back." She said confidently to Chika. Chika nodded, "They probably went to do some guy talk, or whatever. It's not like it's of the utmost importance or anything." In her head, Skuld was stuck between wailing _But it __is__ of the utmost importance,_ and _mini-Banpei where are you? Please be safe._

"Yes, you are right." Skuld said instead, and Chika smiled. "Well, this way, we can get in some girl talk!" Then a shy voice broke in, "Umm, may we sit here and eat with you?" asked a girl from another class, shyly holding lunch and surrounded by her friends. Skuld smiled, "If Chika doesn't mind, I have no problem with it." As their gazes turned to Chika, she shrugged and said, "The more the merrier. Especially when it comes to girl talk." The girls broke out in smiles, looked at each other, and sat down. _Another conversation about things I seem to the only one not understanding._ Skuld thought as talk turned yet again to her shampoo brand. _Hopefully mini-Banpei comes back safe._

MBZP-1 had verified the relative accuracy of most of the main facility, and had turned his attention to the facility attached to the 'middle school' portion of the building, the 'primary school'. The building was actually one, but he had only verified the middle school half of it. And so MBZP-1 began on the primary school half.

By this time, MBZP-1 had put together an efficient system for handling the verification process. After he had worked his way through verifying the hallways, MBZP-1 moved on to the most dangerous and time-consuming part of the process, verifying accuracy in the classrooms.

MBZP-1 had started to visually verify the information of the first classroom when a personal sub priority flag popped up. He opened the message and a shock of excitement coursed through his circuits.

**:Items 'crayon boxes' filled with 'crayons' present in area:**

MBZP-1 rushed to finish the rest of his mission, in order to fulfill his personal sub priority. He hoped to find a classroom that did not currently have students in it, but was disappointed to find that all of them were currently occupied by the proper groups of human units.

After MBZP-1 had finished, he retreated into the safety of the deep ventilation system, sat down and put his 'chin' on his hand, and turned on his problem-solving program. Now that he had finished the mission for the most part, he though he would have the time to do this one _little_ thing for himself.

MBZP-1 input the number of classrooms total, forty two, the number with crayons in them, twenty-eight, and the number of students in each classroom, which varied. His onboard processor began to overheat, and so he forged a wireless connection with his database, to give the program more computing power. In a while, he had come up with a (nominally) acceptable solution.

MBZP-1 made his way to the classroom where the least amount of students currently resided and took up a lookout-post in the vent after silently removing the grate. MBZP-1 now knew that he would have to wait for a moment in time when no person in the room was looking where he wanted to hide, and that is when he would have to make his move, as silently as possible.

While MBZP-1 waited, he overheard a conversation between two of the smaller human units. "My onii-chan is cooler than your onii-chan any day!" one of the two proclaimed in a loud voice, "He can do a handstand for almost ten minutes!" The other shot back hotly, "Your onii-chan is not cooler than my onii-chan. My onii-chan can jump rope nearly 300 times in a row!"

While the two bickered, MBZP-1 thought to himself,

**:Why are these two human units bickering about something so silly? And what is so great about those things? Banpei has much more impressive capabilities. Banpei can fly and has many multi-purpose attachments:**

MBZP-1 then began to wonder who these 'onii-chan' people were. He queried his database. When he received the definition, he noticed certain similarities from the definition and the 'relationship' he shared with the OOS Banpei-kun RX. MBZP-1 began to play with the variations of title, to see which one fit his 'older brother'.

**:Banpei-nii? Negative, too informal. Banpei onii-chan? Indeterminate. Do not 'care' for it for an indeterminate reason. Aniki? Negative, does not fit OOS image. Onii-chan? Yes. Sub priority added; try addressing OOS Banpei-kun RX as 'onii-chan:**

MBZP-1 almost missed his chance while musing about this topic, but he luckily refocused his processing power on his original purpose when the students in the class began to face a particular chair, and the teacher began to speak, the attention of all in the classroom directed away from his angle of attack. He began to move.

Using his grappling hook to slow his fall and swing him toward his target, MBZP-1 swung out of the vent and disappeared into the depths of the bookshelf near to the vent opening. He landed behind the row of books, harder than he had calculated, and then quickly flipped the string of his grappling hook, unhooking it from the inside of the vent, and quickly pulled the grappling hook in and out of sight.

And then he stopped. He stopped moving, acted like the mere zipper pull he was supposed to be most of the time, and waited. He waited cautiously, carefully, for 30 seconds to see if anyone had noticed. In the noise of the classroom, he had hoped to mask his overly loud and not particularly graceful entrance. He moved then, carefully and silently padded behind the row of books. He returned his grappling hook to it's now accustomed position around his torso and plastered himself against the side of the bookshelf, and began his problem-solving program again.

MBZP-1's problem was that now he had no way to safely observe the behavior of the human units. He now had no way to know when he could safely move. But before his problem-solving program could receive input, MBZP-1 heard the adult moving toward the bookcase. "Today's book for reading time is called 'The Borrowers' by Mary Norton. It will take a couple of days to read in class, but I believe all of you will like it."

MBZP-1 froze. "Ah, here it is." Said the teacher, stopping at his shelf and reaching for a nearby book. She removed it and walked away, leaving MBZP-1 with a feeling of relief, as well as a new appreciation for unpredictable circumstances. He waited until the human attention was again focused elsewhere and then moved toward the new opening, just big enough for him to squeeze through. And, conveniently enough, see through as well.

MBZP-1 began to move stealthily from one 'safe' hiding spot to another, getting closer and closer to the closest 'crayon box', while the teacher and the students seemed engrossed in their activity.

Eventually, MBZP-1 reached his target. Now the problem was to secretly find the desired item 'black crayon' and leave without being spotted. MBZP-1 turned his attention back to the classroom. Were they going to stay occupied enough for him to complete this safely? Some of them were looking a little restless.

While caution prompted a logical end to this endeavor, a feeling of 'irritation' and also a feeling of 'determination' rose in MBZP-1. No, he was going to finish this! And so MBZP-1 leaped into the abyss.

Literally, as it were. He leaped quite the distance (for him) and managed to quietly land on a book bag and climb into the desk, where a 'box of crayons' temptingly beckoned him. He scampered in.

The inside of the desk was filled with a number of things, including bits of ribbon, pink erasers, little crayon and pencil stubs, and a number of other potentially useful things. But MBZP-1 was focused only on the shiny new box of crayons. He propped the desk open using the various detritus in the desk and carefully dragged the box further into the desk, and then opened it.

He carefully pulled out crayon after crayon, until one matched the data from his databanks. And when he found it, he just stared. It was long, and still 'sharp' as sharp as data indicated a crayon could be. It was shiny. It was beautiful. It was breathtaking.

MBZP-1 was filled with excitement, buzzing through his circuits. He wanted to try it out! He picked up his new black crayon and drew a smile on himself, just like his onii-chan.

It was wonderful. MBZP-1 was filled with a fondness for his new acquisition, and he carefully tied it to himself with a scrap of pink ribbon long enough to work. He readied himself to leave when a thought struck him. He should probably thank the person who originally owned this.

The little girl had _really_ liked the new story Sensei had chosen. The idea that little people who lived in a smaller world, just behind the walls of everyone's house, borrowing things from the bigger people was very exciting. She bounced toward her desk, so she could get her crayons and draw a picture of the borrowers. She opened it and froze.

"SENSEI!" she yelled, excited. "Come and look, come and look!" Sensei came over calmly, "Yes, Nagisa-chan what is it?" Nagisa turned to her teacher triumphantly and held up a little slip of paper. "Look, they really exist! The Borrowers came and borrowed my black crayon and left me a message!"

Sensei raised her eyebrows in surprise, but she was used to children. This was a bit unusual, but certainly within her experience. She thought little incidents like this is what made children this age so cute. "Please let me see, Nagisa-chan." Nagisa held out the slip of paper as if it were as precious as solid gold. Sensei gently took it from her small hand, and smiled gently at her. She looked at the slip of paper, expecting a sloppily written children's note.

Her mouth fell open in astonishment at the very small, neat letters spelling out 'Thank you' and a happy face underneath. She looked at Nagisa, astonishment written large on her face, and Nagisa's face brightened. "It was them, wasn't it! I knew it! This is the best day of my life!"

MBZP-1 silently made his way across the roof, trying to make his way back to Skuld-sama. Although it had been risky getting up here, it was the safest route back to her classroom. MBZP-1 was aware that soon 'school' would be ending, and he needed to be back quickly so he could safely return with Skuld-sama. He made his way to the end of the roof, and shinned down the drainpipe.

MBZP-1 analyzed the distance, small for others but large for him, between the building he had just left and the building he needs to be at. The first time, he had been traveling through the ventilation system, which was interconnected between the two buildings. But now he had a problem. "Nya?"

MBZP-1 turned and saw a lithe black form, only a bit bigger than him, accompanied by an arresting pair of yellow eyes. A strange feeling, one that made him want to stay close to this being forever, filled his circuits. Was this 'emotion' the one called 'love'? He felt as if he was floating. However, MBZP-1's programming ignored it, and he reached for the pink ribbon he had taken earlier. If he handled this correctly, his problem was already solved. A few moments later and the ribbon was a wonderful makeshift harness. But before MBZP-1 rode off toward Skuld, he though he would make one last cosmetic change…

The end of the day was approaching, and Skuld was becoming gradually more and more agitated. She worried incessantly about min-Banpei, and she was glad she wasn't called on that whole afternoon, since she wouldn't have performed well. And that would only make everyone else worried. She didn't want that.

It was now the last hour of the day, and the clock clicked closer and closer to the bell. Skuld began to twitch nervously, and she became so nervous that she almost missed a rustling sound coming from where her bag was. Before she could discreetly take a peek, the bell rang and she grabbed her bag. She thunked it heavily onto her desk.

Mini-Banpei bounced gently off the side of her bag, a slightly sloppy smile drawn onto his face, and a black crayon stuck into one of the specially made pockets for pencils. A piece of string hung out of the main pocket, the zipper only mostly closed.

"Where were you?" she hissed softly, anger, relief, and irritation flashing in her eyes. "You are getting a talking to when we get home young man!" "Oh, Skuld, that smile is cute. Did you add it during class?" Chika asked innocently, coming closer. Skuld smiled a bit stiffly. "Yeah, isn't it cute? I think that maybe I will change it every once in a while" _I can't believe I have to cover for you. Chika is really good at noticing these things._ She fumed. Skuld grabbed her bag and started towards the door. "Come on Chika, let's go. I want to get home. For some reason, I feel really tired today."

On the way out of campus, Daichi stopped in the middle of conversation and pointed. "Hey, isn't that the really shy kitten living on campus? It's supposed to be really shy, and it doesn't like people. Who put a ribbon on it?" As a group, they turned and looked, as were many others who noticed the change. In the days afterward, a rumor about a 'student' who put the pink ribbon that read '**NOIR**' in black crayon on the black kitten became an overnight school myth.

As MBZP-1 bounced off Skuld's bag as they left, he saw Noir again and his 'eyes' caught the light and gleamed. It really had been a rather interesting and tiring day.

* For those of you unfamiliar with the anime, or couldn't bear watching the whole thing, there is a penguin in it. Which is why Chika watched it at all.

**Oh, Sentaro, how much you are mistaken. Lol.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey, sorry I took so long, but a lot of stuff happened over my Christmas Break. Plus, resettling into the college groove took a bit longer for me this semester. I apologize for the gap, but I am mostly up and running again.

I thank my beta-reader and friends for kicking me in the butt to get me moving again because they wanted to read more. Please enjoy.

Chapter 7

"I am not looking forward to our Home Economics class tomorrow," said Chika, wrinkling her nose just a little. "It's the one subject I never can quite figure out to my own satisfaction."

Skuld tilted her head to the side, her chopsticks stopped halfway to her mouth. "Home Economics class? What do we do in it?" she asked blankly, drawing a disbelieving look from Chika, who stopped eating lunch for a moment, mouth slightly open in shock.

"Did you not have Home Economics at your old school?" asked Chika. Skuld shook her head. "No, we didn't." To break up the somewhat awkward silence, Chika hastily began to explain.

"Home Economics classes teach the basics of how to take care of a home. Usually, sewing, cooking, and cleaning are covered. They also teach the basics of money management, and provide time to practice the skills they are trying to teach you. It's mostly cooking classes for freshmen, and they focus on different things for each year group."

Skuld continued eating. "Oh, ok. Onee-sama has taught me a lot of that stuff, so I shouldn't have too many problems. What do we do with all the extra food we make in class?" Chika shrugged, "It depends on what we make. We eat some, of course, and the extra's for Main dishes are usually donated to charitable organizations for the poor and homeless. Everything else, usually sweets and things like that, are left to us to decide what to do with the extras. That's probably what will be happening tomorrow, since we'll be making cookies. The teacher will probably joke about giving them to boys, and…"

"We are allowed to give them to boys?" Skuld cut in, her face taking on an intent look, "Is that normal?" she asked. Chika blinked, "Why yeah, a lot of people do that. You don't _have_ to…" and then Chika caught on. She smiled, leaned closer, and whispered, "But I'm sure Sentaro won't mind getting cookies from you _at all._"

A blush rose on Skuld's cheeks, and Chika giggled. Skuld decided to retaliate. "Have you decided what to do with _your_ cookies?" she asked sweetly. "No, not particularly. Why?" Chika asked, puzzled. Skuld smiled, "Well, I kind of thought that you might have decided already. You know, since…" Skuld leaned in and spoke in a whisper, "_Daichi_ probably won't have any cookies either."

The blush rose in Chika's cheeks, and Skuld giggled. "Payback is sweet." She laughed, and the two dissolved into laughter until the lunch bell rung a few minutes later, calling them back to class.

Skuld wasn't particularly paying attention to the teacher in their last period, since she knew practically everything taught in class already. Plus, this teacher despised calling on people, so she only had to pay minimal attention and fill out any papers passed out. So she kept herself busy by dreaming of how well her cookies would go over with Sentaro tomorrow.

Just when she was getting to the good part, a paper landed on her desk. _Why now?_ She thought irritatedly, as she passed the rest back, and filled it out without paying much attention. When the call for the papers to come back, she absentmindedly passed hers forward with the rest without much thought, itching to get back and practice a bit at home for tomorrow.

There was a sudden plume of flour, and suddenly Chika and Skuld were covered in a fine white powder. They stumbled out of the cloud, coughing and waving their hands in front of their mouths in hopes of clearing the air they breathed. "How did that happen?" Skuld asked disbelievingly, "I have never seen flour do that!"

Chika coughed one last time. "Sorry. I was trying to sift it. I don't know what happened," She said miserably. "Why does this always happen to me? I don't know why I can't get any cooking I do right." Chika asked, a martyred expression on her face. Skuld sighed, and brushed herself off. "We will clean this up and start again. We won't be that far behind." She stated confidently.

"I am afraid that you two will not be able to finish in time," The teacher said sadly, "And I am going to have to ask you two to spend your free period today here, with a more advanced student from my cooking club."

Chika sighed miserably. "I'm sorry Skuld. It's almost like a curse. I haven't been able to properly cook in a Home Economics class, _ever._ I'm sorry I dragged you down with me."

Skuld shook her head, "No, it's okay. But I never knew there were so many ways cookies could go wrong." She sighed. Oh well… Sentaro would have to wait later than lunch to get his cookies, that was all.

The teacher handed Chika and Skuld a list. "This is the roster of the Cooking club. I've marked which students have which free period with colored highlighters. Your class has the yellow period free, so please pick a member marked with a yellow highlighter."

The two began to scan the roster, when Chika smiled. She'd picked out a familiar name, and it happened to be rather convenient. And it could be a _very_ interesting situation. She handed the roster back to the teacher, and pointed to the name. "How about him?"

The teacher froze, "Are you sure, Unabara-san? He _is_ part of the cooking club, and he _is_ very good at cooking but, uummm…" The teacher struggled to find a good way of putting what she wanted to say. Chika smiled sweetly, and then said "He's in our class, isn't that convenient? We both know him, so that should help with keeping everyone comfortable." "But…" the teacher said weakly, and then looked at Chika, who was acting totally oblivious to what the teacher saw as a possible problem. Oh well…

"I will inform him to come in at the proper time." She said, thinking that they would just have to find out for themselves. It was out of her hands at this point.

"Emergency meeting today at lunch." Sentaro sighed. This was at least the fourth or fifth time he had heard this whispered among male students, usually in the hallway or at the doors of classrooms. And since they were all guys who he knew where huge fans of Skuld, he had a feeling that maybe he should investigate a little.

"Daichi? What are you doing here?" Skuld asked, a bit disbelievingly. Daichi shrugged, "My club advisor told me to come in and help some female students that were having problems in her class this morning. I was a bit surprised actually. I thought they got a choice, and don't know anyone who would pick me…" Chika walked into the room. "I did. Skuld didn't see your name on the roster, since I saw your name right away. Sorry I didn't consult you, Skuld-chan."

Skuld shook her head, "No it is fine. I was just a bit surprised, that was all." She turned to Daichi. "Are you really part of the cooking club? I never would have thought that, usually." Daichi shrugged. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I like to cook, and for a while I have been thinking about becoming a chef, so I decided to join the cooking club."

Chika tilted her head to the side. "But you walk us home almost every day with Sentaro. When does your club meet?" Daichi looked at her quietly. "Every day, actually. But when I go, it seems like no one, or almost no one, goes to those meetings except for our advisor."

Daichi rolled up his sleeves and moved toward the sink. "But we need to get to work. Please come wash your hands, and then we will begin."

Chika grabbed the flour sifter and went to plop a large amount of flour in it. Before she finished, a large hand grabbed her wrist gently to stop her. "Hey now," Daichi's deep voice seemed to settle in her ear for a delicious moment, and then continued inward. She shivered just a tiny bit. "What?" she asked, ignoring her reaction. "If you do that, you'll cover us all with flour. You are supposed to _sift_ the flour, not throw it around like a sack of potatoes. Here, let me show you how to use the flour sifter more smoothly."

Daichi moved in just a bit closer, but even though there was still plenty of space between them, Chika flushed as she watched his long fingers and big hands deftly show her how to properly do what she had been about to mess up. She was glad he was focused on what he was doing, and that Skuld was absorbed in separating the eggs.

Chika promptly calmed down her blush, and everything else, except for her heart, which still beat as fast as a hummingbird's wings. Daichi finished showing her how to do the task properly, and she smiled and hugged his arm. He blushed a ridiculously cute red, and she laughed and said. "Thank you for your guidance, Instructor Daichi. I might make a lot of mistakes, so watch over me carefully, ok?"

He went an even darker red, and she laughed hard enough that she almost ran out of air.

Daichi felt exhausted. But there was a delicious smell rising from the oven, and the two girls looked absolutely delighted. He went over and knocked on the door leading to the other cooking classroom, where the teacher was overseeing another class. The door opened, and the teacher saw Daichi and said, "Furukawa-kun? Are you all right? You look completely exhausted."

"They finished, sensei. The cookies will be coming out in minutes," Daichi leaned against the doorframe for a moment. "I didn't know there were so many ways to possibly mess up a relatively simple cookie recipe." Daichi sighed. The teacher giggled a bit behind her hand, and then stopped quickly. She didn't want to make him angry.

Daichi chuckled tiredly. "It is funny isn't it? I'm sorry for interrupting your current class. I will knock again when the cookies come out, but I thought you might like a little forewarning."

Daichi went back to check on the cookies, and the teacher closed the door, thinking. _Did I get a mistaken impression of Furukawa? He certainly doesn't seem to fit all of the rumors about him._

Sentaro was waiting at the bike rack to walk Skuld and her friend back, and wondered where Daichi had gone during the free period. He looked exhausted. "Hey, Daichi…" he began when he heard. "Sentaro!"

Sentaro turned and Skuld approached the bike rack quickly, almost like she was skipping, a slight smile on her face. She was, of course, closely followed by her friend Chika. "Hey, Sentaro!" Skuld said as she stopped in front of him. "Hold out your hands." "O-ok." He said, a little confused.

Skuld brought her hands from behind her back and promptly deposited a bag full of delicious-looking cookies in his hands. "Here you go!" she said brightly, "I had a few left over from our Home Economics class, and I thought you might like them." Sentaro blushed.

"Th-thanks. They look delicious." Sentaro said, not quite knowing what to say. Then he remembered something he had overheard during his investigation on that…disgusting Skuld club. "Congratulations on being elected to the freshman student council president position, by the way."

"What?"

"All of the opposition abdicated in your favor, Sukaelvettaru-kun. I am afraid that at this juncture, you don't have much of a choice, really." Ichigo-sensei said tiredly. "It is unprecedented, really. All of your opponents came in and abdicated at once, and said that they refuse to run for that position, even if you wanted to have a fair voting process. Apparently you are so popular that they felt that they should vote for you instead of run against you. They even brought a petition to show support with them that contained enough signatures to already be considered close to half the freshman body. No one can technically oppose your popularity, especially with that kind of proof."

"But I turned the application in on accident!" Skuld protested. "I didn't know that was what it was!" Ichigo-sensei eyed her, a little impatient. "I'm sorry, but as things have turned out, it's unlikely anyone else will want the job, even if you withdraw the application. I would like to point out that it would probably be a job you like, from what I know of you, anyway. You would be involved with planning all of the school events for the freshman class, making sure that the students enjoy their life as students, work with the student councils of the junior and senior classes, things like that."

Ichigo-sensei sighed. "But it is understandable if you really don't want to do this, of course. It is quite a bit of work. I can help you withdraw right now, if you want." Skuld was about to say _Yes, of course,_ when she stopped. "Let me think about it, for just a moment."

She'd have a reason to stay at school longer with Chika and Sentaro, especially if she had work to do which would require some helpers. And she was beginning to get really bored at home after she finished her homework, since she didn't have enough time at the end of the day to really work on any of her big projects.

This could work. "I think I won't withdraw my application." She said slowly. "It might have been a mistake, but I would be acting very spoiled to withdraw now, when so many people have shown me their support. Perhaps this is what I need to do."

Ichigo-sensei nodded. "As long as it's all right with you." He said, trying very hard to hide the relief in his voice. "This is the first time I've been asked to oversee the elections, and this would help me immensely. This might seem unfair, but thank you. Would you like to help me? Not this evening, of course, but for the rest of the elections, the student president to-be helping might help draw interest."

Skuld looked at him, "Maybe. See you later, sensei.

"How did it go?" Chika asked when Skuld came out of the teachers lounge. "I made my decision. I decided to stay in the race, so technically I am the freshman class's student council president. I look forward to working with you." Skuld said as she hugged Chika.

Chika smiled. "I also look forward to working with you." Sentaro scuffed at the floor with his shoe. "I will help you if you need it." He said, carefully looking down. "I have my job, but everyone is very understanding. As long as I know beforehand, I don't think it will be a problem."

Skuld smiled, glad that he had offered it himself. That made it so much easier to spend more time with him, "Ok! Let's go home now!"

The mood in the classroom was murderous, where a second emergency Skuld Fan Club meeting was being held. "Skuld-sama gave him cookies!" one member said tearfully, suffering and anger showing on his face. "He is our eternal enemy!"

Jounichi smiled softly. His plan was working already. "Yes, he is. Find out everything you can on this… Sentaro Kawanishi. He is now our sworn enemy!' He proclaimed, counting on the mood of the room to make this statement dramatic.

Everyone burst out in somewhat hushed cheers of agreement, and again, Jounichi smiled sinisterly. Yes, everything was going to plan.

Even with the student council.


End file.
